RWBY: The Jet Chronicles - Part 2: Where Darkness Rises
by CrazyCrashCybr
Summary: He's gone. And, for Ruby, he's impossible to reach. Trapped in jail without any allies save Flux and a villain of Remnant, Jet must get out of prison and reunite with his love. Brutality, death, and sorrow await a single mistake, and even after the escape, what would transpire afterwards? Is there a mission? A quest to be fulfilled? Only one person knows those forbidden answers...
1. Chapter 1 - Pain

There was sorrow in every corner of Team RWBY's dorm room. They had woken up shortly after they had been deposited in their room, and when memories came back of what Jet had done, Ruby had worried so hard that she'd suffered a serious breakdown. Yang was not taking it well either, her eyes flashing between red and purple, pacing the room. Weiss was silent, brooding, and Blake was comforting Ruby, letting the younger girl cry into her shoulder.

Ruby was distraught, as Jet had been taken into the higher punishment cells, which could either mean a lifelong sentence, or death. Neither would let her be with him, and she felt pain like never before in her heart, the cure being the man she loved, locked away.

Blake had immediately seen Ironwood with Izzet and had explained Jet's innocence, along with the fact that he had been manipulated, but Ironwood would not give an inch. He had also been questioned by the council as to how he had failed to control his student, and resented Jet for that.

There was no hope for Jet. No hope for Ruby. She had begged the police to let her see Jet, but she'd been turned away. This was it. Her breaking point.

* * *

Jet rose from the floor of his cell, the feeling in his body deadened. Working his muscles to get blood flowing again, he turned to where he had heard that voice.

"Well?" Torchwick called, tapping on the side of Jet's cell. Jet found the button to lower the privacy screen, and sat on his bed, looking at Roman Torchwick, the same man Jet had heard about from Ruby. He decided to feign ignorance.

"Who are you?" he asked, and Torchwick grimaced.

"You don't know me? I'm surprised, kid." he replied, twirling his hat on a finger.

"Jet's the name. Just call me 'kid'." Jet replied, deciding on his informal tone.

"They'll be letting us out for lunch soon, kid. Why don't I show you around, and get you used to the _pleasurable_ company here, or used to how to avoid 'em." Torchwick suggested.

"Sure. I'm not going anywhere after all."

* * *

"So you were one of the greatest criminal masterminds." Jet said to Torchwick. The two were dining at the prison meal hall, with other inmates crowding the place. Both had kept their secrets, but left enough for curiosity to blossom between them. Androids watched from above as they ate, guns readied, scanning the area.

"Straight up, kid." Torchwick grinned. "Pity that little Red is your lady. She's the reason I'm in this mess."

"Often seems the way of things." Jet replied. "People try to make a living, others botch it up."

"You know, you and I could go places once we bust out of here. Maybe you could go back to Red." Torchwick whispered. Jet grimaced.

"I wish. Even if I did get out of here, she'd probably never forgive me for what I did, and the pain I'm putting her through now." he half groaned, half growled.

Torchwick and Jet got up from the table, having finished their bog-standard meals.

"Just remember to stay awake tonight." Torchwick said, before making the journey back to his cell.

Jet sighed, before following.

* * *

Night fell quickly, and as Jet laid down on his bed, he heard a knock on the door, and groaned.

"Leave me be." he hissed.

Ironwood entered the cell, bringing with him a clipboard and a folding chair, which he sat down on. Jet made eye contact.

"Time to have our chat." Ironwood said, as the cell door descended behind him and slammed shut.

_"Shall I take this one?_" Flux whispered in Jet's mind.

"_Sure_" Jet replied, before he blinked. Emerald irises turned to black as Flux took control.

She relaxed into a sitting position, leaning against the wall.

"So what do you want to know?" she asked, her tone giving nothing away. Ironwood looked taken aback at the question, but his face swiftly hardened when he saw the black eyes that the students had warned him about.

"What are you?" he asked.

"Direct, as I'd expected." Flux said. "I'm a shadow of a person; a mirage given off when nothing is present. Some would say I was born, others say I was created. Darkness is my blood, body and soul. Does that answer your question?"

Ironwood studied the boy sitting in front of him. He certainly looked the part, with alabaster skin and his startlingly black eyes.

"Why did you kill those students? Your peers, who were sent out to find and save you from the night time Grimm." Ironwood asked, carefully choosing each word.

"I was not the killer. That title belongs to the one that opposes me. He shares many features of me." Flux replied, and her expression grew darker at her own words. "I am half Grimm, as you may be aware. That side of me took control when it was manipulated."

"I see." Ironwood commented.

"The controller is the one at fault. I am able to maintain control if I am fed on aura energy." Flux concluded.

"And what evidence do I have to believe a word you say?" Ironwood asked, anger evident in his voice.

"None, as of tonight." Flux said, smiling cruelly at him, and he was tempted to give the boy a slap. But he hadn't completely ignored the requests of his team to believe his captive. He was strong, and he could also form weapons out of darkness. Attacking him now would be a bad idea.

"You're suggesting I will have some… later?" Ironwood asked, incredulously.

"Why, of course." Flux said, still cold. "In fact, I'll present it to you myself."

Ironwood had no more to say to her, and turned to leave. Flux remained silent.

_"You did well."_ Jet's voice came from the back of their body's head.

"For now, we must bide our time. Our enemies will probably try to finish the job of ending us. I can only hope they don't catch us off guard." Flux thought back.

_"I will not be suited to this environment, Flux. Please, do what you must to regain your strength. I have suppressed you for far too long."_ Jet whispered in thought.

"That is music to my ears, Jet. I will not kill. Excessively." Flux growled as she curled up on the bed, not bothering with the paper thin duvet, and fell asleep.


	2. Chapter 2 - Venom

Flux sat at the table where Jet and Torchwick had conversed previously, eating… something. It smelled like food to Flux, but the grey slurry of 'classic' porridge looked and tasted akin to something far less. Flux continued to eat, brooding over the different methods of gaining strength enough to escape, ignoring the raucous table behind her that emitted a cacophony of laughter and smashing sounds.

She gazed up at the parapet above the dining area. Two android guards were stationed, and both had… what were they called again?

_"Stun-guns."_ Jet supplied.

Flux nodded internally in appreciation, but was distracted by a splash of something wet on her back. Spinning around on the bench, she noticed that one of the brutes had knocked another's porridge, which had resulted in her back being soaked in the stuff.

"Watch it, idiot." Flux growled, before turning back to her food. She could always clean the stuff off later, but it was still inconvenient. Before she could return to her food however, she heard two men speak, and what they said could only mean one thing.

"Who's this asshole?"

"Deck 'im."

Flux sighed loudly enough for the men to hear her, and without sparing them a glance, pointed up at the guards.

"You sure you wanna do that with those guys watching?" Flux asked, injecting a little sarcasm into her voice. Perhaps these guys could be her catch for today.

Her ploy worked.

"Nah. But first chance we get, we fuck you up." another said. Flux hissed.

"Your mothers really taught you English well." Flux remarked as she got up and left. "And you clearly missed the point about not talking to strangers." she added, before disappearing from the room. She could hear Jet laughing in her mind, and struggled to suppress her own mirth, as she was in control of the body right now.

_"I swear, it's almost like you wanted to taunt those bulls."_ Jet commented, still trying to control himself as Flux wandered down a deserted corridor.

"They'll come after me. And I'll be ready." Flux spoke aloud.

_"I know."_ Jet replied. _"Just please tease them a little more before you maim them. I never knew that you could make insults sound so funny to bystanders."_

"Sure thing." Flux said, before making her way into the old gym area. Torchwick had told Jet about this area, and about how it was the least guarded out of the whole prison. It was the perfect place to make her first kills.

* * *

It wasn't long before two of the gang Flux had insulted came into the old gym.

Flux had waited alone in the gym, Jet entertaining her in the dream world whilst keeping an eye out for any trouble. Now she stretched as the two men approached her. They were both faunus.

The first was a well-toned and actually somewhat handsome were it not for bloodshot eyes and the blood stained blonde hair. The second had a similar build to a body-builder, with massive fists and high shoulders. They looked like bear faunus to Flux, and while they looked like formidable opponents, Flux smiled internally.

"Here's the asshole!" the first brute called.

"Wow. You guys really don't refer to actual names that much, do you?" Flux replied, as she stood up.

"Any enemy of the Skulls is an asshole, no questions asked." the second said.

"Skulls, huh?" Flux replied scornfully, and decided to enrage her two opponents for Jet. "Looks to me like you should change your names to Thick Skulls, because you're all skull and no brain."

"No-one insults us. Not unless they want a beating. C'mon Johno." the second growled.

"You got it, Kiza." the first agreed, and both started to approach Flux, fists clenched.

_"There's faulty equipment everywhere here. Use that to your advantage._" Jet reported to Flux who nodded, before ducking into a combat stance. She was weak, so she'd need to play this one smartly.

The men came at her at the same time. Flux reacted immediately, kicking Johno at lightning speed and sending him crashing to the floor, before sidestepping Kiza and tripping him. On the way down, her opponent broke his nose when it impacted a weightlifting bench, and he gave a feminine screech of pain.

Johno got back up and saw what had transpired.

"You shithead!" he yelled, before charging again, fists swinging. Flux backed up until he reached the wall, before stamping down hard on her adversary's foot. He yelped in pain before Flux saw that they were very close to a broken dumbbell rack, and remembered what Jet had told her.

She kicked out at the rack with all of her repressed strength, and the heaviest fell to the floor, smashing Johno's foot.

Blood sprayed out from the slush that, moments ago, was a human foot. The slick ran all over the floor. Flux took a moment to take in the sight of her two victims, before turning and running out of the area. She felt revitalised at the sight of their pain, and a small portion of their strength had returned.

* * *

It took a while to find a warden, although this was partly due to Flux getting lost one or twice. This particular warden was named Michael, though everyone just called him Uncle Mike, probably because he was the most reasonable warden in the prison. He was about as tall as her, green eyes, black hair, with the warden's blue uniform a little too big on him.

"Jet! Why are you running? Is that blood?" Mike asked, as Flux came to a halt, panting.

"Yes… yes it is," Flux said, still trying to catch her breath, "there's been an accident. Two people are going to need medical care."

"Show me." Mike demanded, putting down the tea cup he was holding and pulling out a stun baton.

* * *

"So what happened after Johno and Kiza attacked you?" Mike asked.

They were sitting in an interrogation room. White tiles everywhere, a single mirror that was obviously a one way mirror, and a plastic table with metal chairs that were as uncomfortable as they looked.

"I meant to just run." Jet replied. He'd switched with Flux, being better at explaining things than her, and had gone over the alibi with her multiple times. "I kicked Johno to push him back and give me some space, then tripped the other guy."

"How did his nose break?" Mike queried.

"I didn't see the weightlifting bench." Jet answered. "He smashed into it with his face. I was panicked, and by the time I realised, it was too late."

"I see. And then?" Mike pressed.

"Johno came back for me and charged, so I stepped back away from his friend so that I could quickly stun him and then escape. I was dizzy though, and I missed when I tried to kick him in the nuts."

"Which was how the giant dumbbell fell and crushed his foot." Mike finished. "It's certainly a colossal pair of accidents. But you're trained in combat, and from what I know, capable of murdering an entire team of young hunters. It would be quite easy to do what you did deliberately."

"If I wasn't panicked and wanted to harm those two guys, then yes, it could easily have been deliberate. I was just teasing to make myself feel better, and once those guys came for me, I realised my mistake." Jet reasoned.

A silence followed his words.

"That'll be all, Dan." Mike stated, and Jet got up and was about to leave when what he had just said registered.

"Dan?" Jet asked, turning around. Mike began to chuckle.

"Apologies, Jet, you just remind me of someone I know. My son." he explained.

"Feel like I know that name from somewhere." Jet muttered, before exiting the room and switching with Flux. Their eyes turning black, Flux moved back to their cell. She knew that the injuries she'd inflicted would send a message to the Skulls.

It wouldn't be long before her next victims would come to her.


	3. Chapter 3 - Duo of Darkness

"Damn, kid. First day in here and you're already making enemies with the biggest threats to your life."

Flux hissed ever so slightly. She'd met up with Torchwick who had taken it upon himself to become a sort-of guide, and they were now sat at the prison library. The resources there weren't nearly as extensive as those at Beacon.

"How long do you think I have?" she asked. Torchwick sighed.

"Until they come after you, or your life expectancy?" he questioned.

"Er, how about both?" Flux answered.

"Probably tonight. And not long after that. The Skulls don't take chances." Torchwick grinned. To his evident surprise, Flux also smiled, but this was a wicked smile.

"I'm counting on it." she growled. She stood up from the table she'd been sitting at. "In fact, if you want to score some points with them, you should tell them that I'll be at the old gym area tonight."

"Got a plan, have you?" Torchwick inquired. At this, Flux actually laughed quietly.

"Let's just say that the last two injuries weren't accidents. This time, it'll be much worse to all who come after me."

With this last comment, Flux traipsed out of the library and into a weak afternoon sunset. She knew what she had to do.

"Sorry Jet." she muttered under her breath. "You might have a couple of bruises on you when you wake up."

* * *

Flux stepped into the old gym area. The bloodstains from her last fight here hadn't been cleaned up, and after sparing them a glance, Flux set to work. She needed to prepare the environment to her advantage. It was too small to fly in.

They'd probably come for her in greater numbers, and she still wasn't at the height of her strength. Still, if she could pull this off, a large amount of progress would be made. This time, there would be more grievous injuries inflicted, but Flux had to make sure that no deaths occurred, yet.

They came, as Torchwick had predicted, at night. There was no limit to how long prisoners could remain awake, but they would be punished if found sleeping outside their cells. Flux perched herself from a network of stiff ropes that she'd criss-crossed above the door, and was closer to the roof than the floor, which was admittedly quite a large drop.

As the four filed into the room, she draped a noose from above, and with lightning speed, hooked it around the throat of one of the men, which Flux immediately dragged backwards and up into the air. Using the momentum from the pull, Flux pirouetted from her web of rope to land in front of two of the men, the third having gone back to free the one Flux had hung.

She'd expected them to attack immediately, but to her surprise, the remainder of the Faunus gang did not.

"Huh. You guys are actually smart. Pity Johno and Kiza weren't." Flux taunted, intending to bait their attack.

"Oh ho, now," a burly faunus with golden dread-locks and gleaming fangs, "my skulls have brains in them, and we aren't going to be baited."

"You their leader?" Flux asked, sensing an opportunity. With a supreme effort, Flux had hung several of the giant dumbbells from the roof, and their leader was standing directly under one of them.

"Yes. I am Ghorne." the leader said.

_"Flux!" _Jet suddenly called. _"I can help you in this fight! I've got a new ability from Mike!"_

"_What is it_?" Flux thought, then brought her attention back to the now four-strong gang in front of her. "Ghorne, is it? Well, since you're able to think, you already must know that I'm dangerous. Do you all really want to be seriously injured?"

"You're right. So let's even the odds." Ghorne commanded, and all four drew knives. As they did so, shadows suddenly billowed from Flux, though she wasn't the one summoning them. She waited for them to recede, and when they did, another Flux stood next to her.

At least, she thought it was, but she then recognised the azure emerald eyes as he locked eyes with her. Jet stood next to her in a copy of their body. In that instant, Flux understood what needed to be done.

It was time to instil fear, she thought, as she and Jet turned to face the now confused gang.

"You were wrong to challenge us…" Flux growled.

"…when there are things unknown to you." Jet hissed.

Ghorne looked from Jet to Flux, and Flux realised that they looked the same, save for their eyes.

"So this is your semblance. Pathetic." he spat, as the men began to advance, knives held aloft.

"Hah. You're one to talk, Fido…" Flux taunted, and knew Jet would finish.

"…always gotta fight in packs, don't you, you cowardly mutt." Jet mocked. It seemed that Flux was right about the fact that Ghorne was part dog, because the faunus looked very much peeved off.

"Come, Flux." Jet called above the growls from the Skulls. "Let's teach these jerks a lesson."

"After you, Jet. Time to suffer!" Flux yelled, and Jet immediately leaped up into the rope nexus with a dark glyph as Flux charged the men. Ghorne stepped back as two goons moved forward, and as Flux jumped over both knife slashes, Jet descended with a smaller, one-handed dumbbell, which he used to club the faunus that Flux didn't engage, and he fell, unconscious from the heavy blow with a sickening crunching sound.

Jet then turned to face the third as Flux used her superior agility to outmanuver her opponent. She dodged his clumsy stabs and waited. After the fifth miss, her opponent desperately charged, much like she had once done to Ruby. She side-stepped and let her opponent run and trip on a piece of equipment.

She kicked out at the man's head, and thanked the fact that she had a man's body as he was knocked out by her attack. Flux then turned to face Ghorne after a screech of pain that meant Jet had disabled or otherwise maimed the guy he was fighting. Her suspicions were confirmed as the third faunus leant against the wall, nursing a dislocated leg and arm.

The dark pair advanced upon Ghorne.

"You can either run…" Jet said.

"…or you can die." Flux finished.

Jet then tossed a knife that one of their attackers had been wielding to Flux, and drew one himself. As they turned back to Ghorne, they were not surprised to see that he'd bolted.

"We're getting closer." Jet remarked, as Flux tested her muscles, finding more strength than before. "Nice trick, huh?" he asked, as he turned to face her.

"How?" Flux was dumbfounded. Even if Jet did help a great deal, just… how did he do it?

"Mike's semblance. You tapped him on the back to get his attention, and I took advantage." Jet explained, and his body turned into shadows, which started to flow back into Flux.

"Clever." Flux growled, before leaving the room. It would be better if they weren't discovered at the scene at this point.


	4. Chapter 4 - The Reaper

"So what do you think, sir?" Mike asked Ironwood, as they watched Flux exit the old gym area from the view of a hidden camera. Ironwood was deep in thought.

"Jet and Flux. Two different personalities in one body. One of them a female no less." he mused. He wouldn't have believed it if it weren't displayed right before his very eyes.

The only other person in the room was a shorter figure, dressed in a full black cloak and hood. The only detail of the individual's face that was visible was the glowing red eyes that did nothing to illuminate the rest of the face. Mike had introduced him as an accomplice, and Ironwood, while he did not trust this stranger, he did trust Mike's judgement.

"You could use this, you know." the figure said, in a slow and ethereal voice.

"What do you mean, Shade?" Mike asked. It was the nickname given to the figure, due to the fact that his true name was unknown even to himself.

"Think about it." Shade explained. "You have the Skulls who are terrorising the place, and you have someone who can not only end them but make it look like a convincing accident. I say we use that."

"How?" Ironwood queried sternly.

"Let Jet and Flux know that you will ignore it provided they only target the Skulls. As the Grimm half, Flux will need to do it anyway just to rebuild her strength. You just need to paint a target on their backs, and they'll take care of the rest." Shade replied.

"You're suggesting that I allow potential murder in my prison?" Ironwood growled.

"Only so that you can take care of loose ends. The Skulls are all here for life – they don't care about punishments because they've not got anything worse to suffer, save for what Flux and Jet could do. If anything, you could tie it into Jet's community service, by dealing out the punishments and instilling genuine fear in their hearts, it pulls them back in line." At Shade's words, Ironwood could see a plan forming.

"That could work." Mike interjected. "But there's two things wrong with that. First, you'd have to make sure that they will not die. Second, the prisoners must not know that Jet and Flux are the torturers."

Shade's eyes narrowed. "I've already thought of that." he said. "You must ensure that Jet and Flux exercise restraint when doing this. They must also disguise themselves, though I think their darkness manipulation will be more than sufficient."

"Why are you helping us like this?" Ironwood asked. He did not trust this… person at all.

"Nothing at all. I am, for all intents and purposes, an assistant of Michael. I am merely performing that role. If anything, the only two rewards I attain are the pleasure of service and a fulfilment of my curiosity." Shade explained, though Ironwood detected a hint of anger in his voice.

"What are you curious about?"

Both Ironwood and Mike spoke at the same time, and turned to each-other in surprise. Shade, however, did not react.

"I am curious about their case. They claim to have been manipulated, and the White Fang are currently the greatest threat. It would not surprise me if some semblance were used to aggravate the hunger and bloodlust of Flux. Since all of the Skulls are co-incidentally White Fang, I think at least one of them must know something." he replied.

"Do you trust this man, Michael?" Ironwood asked. To his great surprise, Mike nodded.

"Sir, while I have only known this man for two months and he remains hidden in most aspects, in that time, he has made three suggestions that have resulted in monumental progress in my particular line of work. With that in mind, I don't think you should ignore him." he said, and Shade tilted his head to indicate his ascent.

"Very well." Ironwood conceded. "I entrust this to you two."

* * *

In two days' time, Jet had been appointed to the role of the prison's hidden torturer, unofficially named "The Reaper". Jet had agreed with Mike that their shadow manipulation would work, and now Jet stood in a prison bathroom normally reserved for the staff. Flux stood beside him in her clone form, using their new ability. Mike now knew that his semblance was theirs, though he didn't seem too surprised.

Both Jet and Flux moved in unison, facing a full body mirror. Balancing on their left legs, they raised their arms until their hands were level with their shoulders, and stretched sideways. Darkness started to pool around the pair, forming into robes. Jet felt his hands become silver claws as black and silky sleeves wrapped themselves around his boots. His wings were hidden under the robes, and he felt a gold skull mask materialise around his face as a hood grew from the cloak.

The pair returned to a normal stance, and turned to gaze at one another. Jet had to admit, through his mask, Flux looked terrifying, and he knew he was dressed in the same way.

"Let's go." Jet said, only his voice was low, deep, and carried an evil feel. Probably an effect of the mask.

"Lead on." Flux replied, in a slightly higher pitch but similar voice.

* * *

Exiting the bathroom, Jet activated his time-stop, and the pair stood before Mike in the detention room in an instant. To Mike, the two had appeared out of nowhere, and understandably jumped at the two Reapers' sudden appearance.

"We are ready." they both said in unison.

"Well then." Mike took several deep breaths, as though he'd nearly suffered a heart attack. "You only have two to deal with. A skull that started a brawl. Feel free to inflict as much pain as you like, but you'll only have five minutes, and remember, don't kill."

"As if we would do that." Flux replied, as she entered the room, Jet turning into shadows and retreating into her body.

Steel covered the walls and roof. An iron human-sized table stood in the room, with a single individual chained to it. A red LED clock was set at five minutes. Their victim was indeed a Skull, quite wiry, but lean and toned, with brown, frizzy hair and green eyes. Two spotlights trained on him provided the only light in the room.

Mike stepped into the room behind them, and the Skull turned his gaze onto him, though the Reaper remained focussed on her victim.

"Jackson. Due to the violent fight that you instigated, several prisoners were severely injured, one of whom died of their injuries, and because of this, you are now in the company of the Reaper for five minutes. The time will start once he hears the first sign of pain, and the colossal pain you feel will only be heard by the Reaper, as this room is soundproofed. That is all." Mike explained, before closing the heavy iron door and the sound of bolts being locked were heard.

The prisoner turned to Flux, who silently approached.

"You don't scare me." Jackson growled, and spat at Flux.

"Oh, you will be scared." Flux replied, wiping her mask with a gloved hand. "Your pain is my pleasure, after all, and I intend to gain as much of it as I can. Now," she drew a long, thin knife, "shall we begin?"

Without waiting for a response, Flux plunged the knife into her target; Jackson's exposed arm. Jet watched from afar, using his spirit form to move to a shadowy corner of the room. He was horrified, but utterly fascinated by Flux's technique for torture, watching 'himself' do this.

As her victim shrieked, Flux dug the knife in, and soon, with a sickening shplat, the blade exited the other side in a flood of blood and silver. Withdrawing the knife, pieces of muscle and more blood exited the surprisingly thin wound. Jet realised that Flux hadn't punctured any major arteries with that stab, and wondered how many times she'd done this.

He didn't have long to think, as Flux then used the bloody knife to rip the prisoner's shirt open, so that his bare chest was exposed. He watched, wide-eyed as Flux gave a quiet, almost tender, chuckle, before she slowly pressed the knife to his chest. Groans of pain and fear ensued as Flux opened up light cuts in long, trailing lines across Jackson's stomach, slicking his chest with red drops.

The table that had been spotless before was now scarlet with spatters of blood, but Flux showed no signs of ceasing her actions. On the contrary, the blood was exciting her, and as Jet observed, she slipped her blade underneath his skin via one of the vulnerable cuts. Jackson, unfortunately, was still conscious, and made the mistake of watching as she slid her whole blade under, before pulling upwards, ripping a patch of skin off with the knife. At this point, he was screaming in pain and fear.

Flux then withdrew her dripping knife, and moved towards Jackson's quivering face. She held the sliver of silver up to his face.

"I think I'll take that next." Flux boomed in her voice changer, and Jet looked at the clock, before realising what was about to happen. He disintegrated his spirit form and moved back within his body, and resumed his view from Flux eyes. She swung the knife at Jackson's exposed eye –

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Flux stopped just short of the eye, and instead slowly pulled away. Jackson only barely registered in his terror that the five minutes were up. Flux instead turned away, and began to exit the chamber. Before she left, she turned back to the terrified faunus.

"You were lucky. Remember the name of the Reaper, the next time you feel like stepping out of line." she growled, before Jet finally regained control and walked out of the chamber, and into a waiting Mike.


	5. Chapter 5 - Death

"Jet, or Flux, whichever you are. Is it done?" Mike asked the hooded Reaper. Jet grinned from under the mask as Flux's regained strength began to flow through his arms.

"It is. I wouldn't go in there though." Jet replied as he started to walk away. "The stench is quite… overpowering."

With that, Jet vanished. Mike leaned into the torture chamber. He sensed two things that made him feel nauseous instantly.

The coppery smell of a large about of gore.

The whimpering of a terrified and broken man.

* * *

_"Feel my strength. Doesn't it feel wonderful?"_ Flux asked tenderly in his mind as Jet flexed his muscles in the old gym area.

"_We only need one more dose of pain like that. Right?_" Jet asked apprehensively. Even if he had been intrigued by Flux talent before, it still nauseated him to no end.

"_Right._" Flux replied, and Jet sighed in relief. He lifted the weight he'd used to bash that Skull from earlier, and was surprised to see that he could now easily wield and swing it. He'd won his fights by overpowering his opponents with Semblances, but maybe he didn't need to anymore. "_But…_" Flux continued.

"_But?_" Jet asked aloud nervously.

"_Our victims must die for me to achieve full strength_." Flux growled. Jet sighed. He'd been afraid of that.

_"We've done gruesome things, isn't that enough?"_

_"No. Death is a sweetmeat to me, and what I need."_

Jet let go of the weight, which landed with a resounding clang. There had to be another way to gain strength.

_"You're going to restrain me again, aren't you?"_ Flux whispered.

_"No. I just…"_ Jet took a deep breath. _"I don't want to cause any more pain that I can avoid."_

* * *

Night fell, and Flux remained silent. She was asleep in her cell, but Jet was on high alert within her mind, ready to rouse her if needs be. It seemed as though it would be a peaceful night, however.

Or so it seemed. A figure dashed to the prison door in a flurry of rose petals, and opened the door. Flux herself was nearly asleep at the time, but Jet used his power to awaken her, unsure of the presence outside the cell.

Disgruntled, Flux rose, ready to fight if needs be, but once she saw the intruder, she felt her heart skip a beat.

"Ruby?"

She pulled her into a tight hug, to which Flux returned, still gobsmacked at how she'd gotten here, and Ruby began to cry, silently. Flux held her tight, trying to radiate her body's warmth, but to no avail, as Jet returned and their eyes returned to emerald.

He whispered the question that was playing on his mind. "What are you doing here?"

Ruby did not answer immediately. Something was definitely wrong with Jet. His strength felt like it was diminished, and his usual warmth was replaced by a chill that rivalled Weiss'. It felt like she was hugging a corpse.

Jet did what she never expected him to. He pushed her back, and Ruby immediately felt her heart waver. Was he not happy to see her? Had she done something wrong?

Jet backed up into a corner of the cell, arms crossed around his chest, and continued.

"You shouldn't put yourself at this much risk just to see me!" he hissed. "What if the guards see you? You could end up in a similar position to me!"

Ruby had the sense of cracks appearing in her heart. Did Jet seriously think she would just leave him alone after he'd been gone for goodness knows how long?

"B-but Jet." she stuttered, before regaining her composure. "I wanted to see you."

Jet turned away, and Ruby saw him blush profusely. "Please," he implored, "leave me alone for now."

Ruby could not believe what she was hearing. Jet, who had been her source of joy since she'd started going out with him, was only now starting to crack? Tears appeared in Ruby's eyes as she silently gave him a questioning look.

"Soon, I'll be able to clear my name, and by that time, I'll come and pay a visit."

Coming out of his corner, he grasped Ruby's hand with both of his own, and strained to maintain a confident smile. "I've missed you so much, but right now, I need to focus on getting myself out of here. If you can promise me that nobody from our teams will come near this prison tomorrow night, then I promise you that soon, everything will be back to normal. Please believe me. You don't know how much it pains me to say this."

Emerald eyes locked with silver eyes, and Ruby despaired at the sight of her lover. If Jet was pushing her away, then he obviously had to. He'd have a lot of explaining to do later. But she had to be sure of one thing first.

"Do you still love me?" Ruby whimpered, immediately regretting even asking. Jet used a dark glyph to pull her back into the cell and gave her a tight hug, and Ruby was surprised at his strength.

"You dolt!" Jet whispered, reminding her of Weiss in the sharpness of his voice. "Of course I do!"

"Then let me help you!" Ruby hissed.

"No." Jet said, and Ruby could see dark tears in his own eyes. "You have to let me deal with this on my own. You have to trust me. I'll come back for you, I promise, no matter what." He leaned in close, and whispered. "I love you, really big, red heart love you. That will never change."

Nodding sadly, Ruby replied with "I love you too", before activating the door to Jet's cell and watching him disappear behind it. She knew better than to challenge him at a time like this, and could only hope that he'd be fine, and that she'd be with him as he'd promised.

Hearing voices around the corner of the cell block, Ruby swiftly departed. Only time would tell what Jet had planned.

* * *

"_Jet, we must kill. Otherwise our struggle will have been for naught!"_ Flux called.

_"I know, but we can't do it. If anything, killing will lessen our chances of getting out."_ Jet replied calmly.

_"Let me take control! Succumb, for both our sakes!_" Flux practically yelled. Jet sighed.

_"I know you plan to go on a rampage, so let's go somewhere we can cover up any mess."_ Jet thought, getting out of bed.

_"Thank you Jet. Trust me, your soul will feel far better, and then we can get back to Ruby._" Flux reassured.

After Ruby had left, Jet had been unable to sleep, though he partly owed that to the uncomfortable nature of the bed in his cell. He'd waited until he was released into the main dining area, where he sat, alone.

His early morning feast (if you could call it that) was interrupted by the appearance of three burly Faunus inmates, who circled Jet. They were in one of the older buildings, which was not guarded by androids and the security system was easy to sabotage. He rose as a bear Faunus addressed him.

"Look what the man's dragged in, boys. An anti-faunus!" he sneered, while his two cronies leered at Jet, flexing their muscles.

Jet rose, and checked all three. The bear was obviously the leader, with a stag faunus and a monkey faunus that had spikes protruding from his tail. All three were heavily muscled and blonde haired, square jawed, though this was exaggerated on the bear.

'_Easy targets_.' Flux thought.

"Clearly I've done something to upset you. Out with it." Jet commanded, attempting to aggravate them. It worked.

"It isn't clear enough then?!" the bear faunus roared. "You've been taking shots at us Skulls, and that only means one thing to us."

"Death." the other faunus said in unison.

"Well, I need to finish my meal." Jet growled, lowering his posture while gesturing to the unfinished gruel that was today's breakfast. "You can either leave me alone, and I'll finish, or you fight and die, in which you become my _three course meal_." he continued, dragging out the last three words and emphasising them. The bear roared with laughter, which the other two joined in.

"You? Kill us three elite skulls? You're having a laugh!" he yelled. In an instant, Jet closed his eyes and Flux's black pupils gleamed out when he opened them. In the next instant, Flux was at the Monkey faunus' side, who turned in shock, and as the bear and stag watched, she effortlessly lifted the faunus before breaking his spine over her knee.

Before either of them could react further, Flux then lunged, sinking her teeth into her victim's throat, tasting blood, before her control was finally lost, and she ripped it out, swallowing the meat greedily, blood spattering her face, before dropping the rapidly cooling corpse.

"Jack!" the bear roared in anger, before both he and his surviving mate charged. Flux waited until they were close enough before jumping up, having backed into a wall earlier, and the two brutes collided with it. Dazed, the bear barely heard the crash and scream of his friend as Flux swiftly ripped his heart out with a clawed hand, then proceeded to drink the blood pumping out of it.

Flux then turned to the bear, who looked at his two fallen friends. He roared a battle cry before charging again. Flux chuckled, before flaring her dark aura and lengthening it into a spike, which the bear promptly impaled himself on, intestines flowing freely from the spike. Flux then retracted the spike, before surveying the carnage. Completely silent, she used a dark glyph to collapse the roof of the building onto the corpses, hearing a satisfying crack of bone as the bodies were crushed flat. She then started to run as alarms began to sound.


	6. Chapter 6 - Chaos

Flux barely got out of the door, covered in blood and dust from the roof when she literally ran into Ironwood, who had been nearby and had heard the alarms. He looked surprised to see her.

"Jet! What are you doing here?" he snapped, suspicious as two android guards ran into the dining area.

"Apologies sir! There was a collapse!" Flux panted, feigning a stitch in her side as her eyes resumed their normal emerald. "I got away, but three prisoners got crushed. Their blood hit me." Jet continued, putting on a scared act.

"Return to your cell immediately." Ironwood instructed, and Jet complied, walking away as he called for additional androids.

* * *

From afar, two figures watched, both perched on the roof of a building. Shade stood to the right, red eyes visible, while the other wore a Grimm mask, similar to that of a Nevermore.

"Nicely done. Now all that remains is to bait the trap." the masked figure said to the shadow in a feminine voice. "I will now set events in motion, my son."

Shade turned to look at her. "Make sure that everything proceeds as divined. But be careful. The one you plan to meet has some… issues if she gets too angry."

"Of course." she replied. The shadow reached out to hug her, and she obliged to his silent request.

"Mother," Shade whispered, "I don't think this is a good idea."

"It is, trust me. You do want your family to know about your connection to them, right?" she asked.

The shadow released her. "I don't know how well some would take it. It's also where I come from, if they knew, then it would only hurt them more."

"Your time is limited. And besides, it's only a matter of time before SHE comes back for you." the woman responded.

* * *

From inside his cell, later in the evening after another day in the prison compound, Jet lay flat on his bed, contemplating the possible events tomorrow would bring. He had to get out of here, there was no question about that. He needed to get back to Ruby, and would do anything to see her.

The cell door opened. Jet, who had had enough with people questioning him about the incident, sat up. He was shocked to see Mercury and Emerald, both of whom were armed. He was even more shocked to see Torchwick behind them. Before he could speak a word, Emerald swiftly covered his mouth, before plunging her twin blades into his stomach, Mercury following up with several brutal kicks to his ribs, breaking them.

Crimson blood flowed copiously from Jet, who was still silenced by Emerald. He struggled weakly, but eventually fell still, and Emerald withdrew her hand.

"Finally, after all that effort controlling and framing him, he's gone." Torchwick said.

Without warning, the still bleeding corpse suddenly jolted upright just as a voice from behind all three of them spoke quietly.

"Gotcha."

They turned to see a figure enshrouded in shadows, with glowing red eyes, accompanied by none other than General Ironwood! The shadow figure unleashed a solid wave of force that pushed all three of the now dumbstruck criminals backwards, and conjured purple glyphs which held them in place.

* * *

Ironwood took in the whole scene; in the small cell, Torchwick, along with two unknown criminals held in place by the wall, with brackish blood covering the floor and bed, along with Jet's cooling corpse on the bed. He sighed, as this would mean a lot of paperwork, but was grateful to Shade, who had tipped him off.

There had been one condition however, as Ironwood knew by the sounds of running footsteps around the corner. Team RWBY, Glynda Goodwitch and Professor Ozpin all came running from around the corner towards Jet's cell. Ironwood was dragged out by Shade before he swiped his hand at the key card activated door, and it shut.

Taking no notice of the shadowy figure beside him, the arrivals immediately closed in on Ironwood. Ozpin was the first to speak.

"General. What happened?" he asked. They had been alerted that something had happened to Jet, nothing more, as per Shade's instruction.

"Jet is… dead." Ironwood said slowly. Ruby immediately shrieked in grief, although the shadow beside him merely chuckled. Ironwood gave Shade a confused look, before continuing. "His sacrifice allowed us to apprehend the real criminals, whom he lured into his cell before my tipoff…" he gestured at the shadow person "…was able to restrain them."

At this, all present looked Shade over. He was only a silhouette of a person, with red eyes.

"Who are you?" Weiss asked him. He responded at first with a small chuckle again, and Ruby thought the voice sounded familiar. She hardly dared believe it though.

"Jet?" she asked him.

The shadow figure lifted an arm, and Jet's corpse appeared beside him, now no longer bleeding. He knelt near the corpse even as tears appeared in both Ruby's and Yang's eyes. He placed a palm on its chest, and the corpse decomposed into dark mist, which was absorbed by the figure. After he was finished, he rose, and began to spin on the spot, the darkness around him slowly fading.

"You're wrong about one thing, Ironwood." he said as he spun faster and faster until he was a blur. The shadow began to fly off him in strings, reminiscent of bandages flying off a mummy. He slowed down, and when he finally stopped, all of the shadows were gone, and Ruby's heart leapt as Jet took a bow. "I'm not dead!"

This was too much for Ruby, who pulled him into a crushing embrace, with Yang swiftly following, knocking the trio down. Weiss had a satisfied smile on her face, while Blake's was suddenly full of understanding.

Ironwood and Glynda were both immeasurably confused by this, which Ozpin could plainly see. As Jet extricated himself from his lover and friend, Ironwood addressed him.

"Jet? How?" Ironwood asked, shocked. "You were dead!"

"Not quite." Jet said, rising and shaking both Rub and Yang off. "The 'Jet' you found was a clone of me, courtesy of a certain someone's semblance, whom I will not name. How else do you think Shade knew so much about me?"

"So all that time…"

"Yes, it was me." Jet said with a smile. "And the best part is, now that we can convict those three with the evidence we've gathered of framing me with all crimes I committed, it clears me of all charges according to the law here, _regardless_ of the height of those charges."

It was true. Ozpin had to hand it to Jet, in one fell swoop he'd tricked both the law and the ones really responsible for his crimes, all the while getting away for free. Now he watched as Jet turned to the sobbing girl around his waist.

"I'll be right back." Jet said, before he vanished from the spot with Ruby.

* * *

Within the time-stop, Jet gently carried a tearful Ruby through the greyscale world. She was still clutching at his chest, and he marvelled at how easy she was to carry. There were a lot of new things he'd be discovering.

Ignoring the girl on his back, Jet felt the familiar purple light on his back which could only mean one thing.

* * *

Barely a minute later was he standing on the green grass of a place he knew very well. He sighed happily as he laid Ruby down on the summit of Sunset Hill, which admittedly didn't sound nearly as impressive as it first sounded.

Ruby for the most part had cried her eyes out, and as Jet laid down next to her, she put her arms around him. The gentle grass, the setting sun… this was Sunset Hill at its finest. Ruby sniffed as Jet rolled over to face her, leaning on his right arm.

"That last week without seeing you," Jet said softly, "was, hands-down, the worst week of my life."

"Mine too." Ruby said, glaring at Jet.

"I suppose you want me to say I'm sorry." Jet muttered. "But I'm going to say something first. I'm going to tell you why I did it."

At Ruby's silence, Jet continued.

"At the time, I was going to fight with the rest of you. I realised something. If I fought, I'd bring great danger upon you all. If I lost you..." he took a deep breath. "So I did the one thing I could to protect you. I gave myself in. I did it to protect you."

He stopped as he heard a low groan from Ruby. Wait. Was she growling?

"Jet." Ruby angrily spoke. "The last time someone this close to me tried to protect me like this, it resulted in the greatest tragedy in my life. Don't you dare make yourself the second."

Rather than recoil, Jet knew she couldn't stay angry at him, even if she herself didn't know it yet. He reached over and pulled Ruby into his embrace, feeling the familiar soft touch, the scent of roses. Tears reached his eyes as his emotions suddenly broke lose, and he shook as he started to cry. He felt Ruby's surprise at this sudden outburst of emotion.

"Ruby, you're the only one that I love this way. I've missed your company so much, and I don't want to let go. You're the only one who sees past my shadowy exterior. You…" he took a shuddering pause, before continuing, "are a part of my heart now. If you die, I would -, I would –" he hiccupped, but was stopped from further talking by Ruby gently burying his head in her chest, ignoring the course spikes of his hair.

"Jet." Ruby spoke tearfully from somewhere above his head. "It's alright. You're out of there now, and we're back together."

She put her own head nearer to Jet's before whispering in his ear what she'd wanted to say since the floodgates had been opened, hugging him as her own tears came forth.

"I'm not going anywhere."

After what felt like ages to Ruby, she and Jet finally calmed down. He still shook where he lay, having released many days' worth of pent-up emotion in one go. He gave Ruby one final kiss, to which she happily obliged, before standing up with her.

She realised that she'd crossed an invisible barrier. From what she'd gathered, he was very much like Blake in keeping to himself, except he was more social than her teammate, but she was one of the only people that he'd opened up to like this. It spoke miles for how much he trusted her, and Ruby realised the privilege of being in this position.

Before she could think any further, a familiar motorcycle was coming up behind them. Turning, she saw Yang speeding up the hill towards them, with Blake riding on the back, while Weiss used her glyphs to speed towards them.

As the brawler dismounted, Ruby knew by the smile on her face that she came with good news. She only had to wink for Ruby to catch the vibe.

"Am I –" Jet began to ask, worriedly, but Weiss cut him off with a graceful sweep of her hand.

"You're free. Welcome back, Jet." Yang grinned, as she and Jet bumped knuckles. Jet was about to say something else, but was distracted when Ruby literally leapt into his arms. She was ecstatic, and Jet looked happier than he had ever been before, even when he was with Ruby.

Yang was cracking up laughing at this new development, while Blake covered a small smile, and Weiss huffed, before leading the way back to Beacon. She didn't get far before Jet unfurled his wings from under his jacket, and took off, Ruby still in his arms, yelling "See ya back at Beacon!"

Jet hooked Ruby by the chest using his arms, and the two begun to soar across Vale, Ruby amazed by the sight of Vale at night and from above. Despite it being cold where they were, she felt that warmth that she'd missed for so long coming from Jet, and that sealed the deal in her mind. Jet was truly back. There was no question now. Smiling the widest smile she had done in a long time, she straightened her back and enjoyed the flight, Jet gently tilting his wings every once in a while.

He flew smoothly through the clouds, not performing the ridiculous acrobatics he sometimes did, just letting Ruby enjoy the cruise. She had to admit, up here in the sky, she was practically helpless, but she trusted Jet with all her heart, and let her worries drop down to the ground.

* * *

Before long, they were circling the park that held Sunset Hill again. Ruby thought that they were going to land on the hill, so she was surprised when he flew near a lake and dropped her! Her stomach dropping twice as fast, she crashed into the water with a tremendous splash and a yelp. She looked up irately at Jet who had landed on a nearby bank, and who was cracking up laughing.

"Sorry Ruby!" he said, falling on his back and still laughing. "I couldn't resist the opportunity!"

Ruby splashed him as she clambered out of the lake.

"Jerk." she growled, pinning him to the ground. Jet struggled to get her off, but ceased when Ruby kissed him. Instead, his wings extended and pulled her in closer, while Ruby let go of his arms. They broke apart, but remained embraced. Both said the words that had been playing in their minds.

"I've missed you so much!" both said in unison. Neither thinking it strange, they simply resumed their kiss, that single action purging themselves of all the negativity being built up in the time they had spent apart.

As they did, Yang smiled at the pair. Blake and Weiss were already back at the dorm, but she'd stayed to watch from afar. She could barely contain her own laughter at Ruby's dunking, and now was watching the pair with a look of pure adoration. She knew she'd been right in telling Ruby.

Jet was the one for her.


	7. Chapter 7 - Fiery Rebirth

3 days later

"…and that's Dark Ultimatum." Jet finished, Yang listening to his every word. They were sitting at Junior's bar, Yang having ordered a beer for herself, while Jet sipped on a soda. It was night, judging by the black sky outside. Ruby, Weiss and Blake had gone out to service their weapons. Yang, who had already done hers, had taken Jet to the bar, and had had two beers prior to this one.

She'd been questioning Jet about his abilities. It was interesting to find out he had so many at this point, and he in turn had been finding out about her own life, and Ruby's. Now it was time for the conversation to take a more interesting turn, Yang thought.

"Say, little bro?" she asked. "What do you see in Ruby?"

Jet gave her a light smile. It was an inside joke, as Ruby seemed insistent on making Jet part of her family as a brother, considering how much time they spent together, to which Jet had complied happily, making the pair technically siblings.

"Need you even ask, Sis?" Jet queried. "She's beautiful, funny, and still has a little bit of a childish streak."

"You're talking about Ruby, y'know?" Yang replied. "She's got a major league childish streak."

Jet chuckled. "In some ways, she reminds me of myself. Parts of me, anyway."

Yang let the matter drop, she knew Jet was referring to the fact that he was part Grimm. As the silence stretched, Jet spoke up.

"Hey, can I arm wrestle you?" he asked. "I always wanted to know if I was stronger than you."

Yang was taken aback. No-one EVER challenged her to an arm-wrestle, not ever since a particularly tough opponent had his arm broken. She smiled as Jet had his arm ready.

"Bring it." she slurred slightly.

They hooked arms, and Jet held eye contact, Yang noticing the confidence in his eyes.

"One, two, three!" Jet yelled, and it began. Yang immediately pushed as hard as she could, and Jet's arm went close to falling to the table, only a couple of inches away. She was surprised as Jet first halted her, before he steadily started to push back, no amount of force working on him, until they were both back at dead even, before Jet began to gain the upper hand!

Yang fought through the pain, her muscles straining to sting as she was brought near her breaking point. Her semblance activated suddenly, and she was engulfed in flames as she once again brought Jet near the table surface, this time Jet only holding on to a few millimetres. He grinned at her.

"So that's the game we're playing, is it, red eye?" he taunted. Yang said nothing, but pushed even harder, but Jet's arm refused to budge. Jet's eyes turned to an icy cyan, before blue flames enshrouded him, and his strength increased as well, forcing Yang back! Yang realised that he'd copied HER semblance too!

Both of their auras were nearing total collapse as the contest continued, Junior and a couple of his men having come over to watch. At dead even again, neither looked set to break.

Jet's flames began to burn hotter than ever, and he slowly but surely began to push Yang's incredibly sore arm back. He got her near the table again before Yang's final stage of her semblance triggered, and a last burst of strength allowed her to push Jet's arm over the edge and slam it down against the table.

"You… win." Jet gasped, before falling backwards off his bar stool with a final, ear-splitting crash.

Yang slumped on the bar, clutching her arm, which was in agony as she nursed it. All of the muscles in it were throbbing as she recalled the hardest arm-wrestle she'd had in her life. Jet was not someone to be taken lightly, she now realised.

Her semblance had settled down, and her eyes had resumed their lavender colour. Jet, having finally gotten himself up with the help of one of Junior's men, had also calmed down, his eyes were their usual emerald colour. Junior was applauding the two.

"I don't think I've ever seen something like that." he said, as Jet got back on his seat with a muttered "thank you" to the guy that helped him up.

"Impressed, were you?" Yang groaned, as Jet surrounded his own arm with shadows, evidently healing it. A blue glow emitted from within them, and then dispersed with the shadows, and Jet flexed his now fully healed arm.

"Pass me your arm." he instructed. Yang complied, and Jet laid his hand on Yang's muscles, making her wince in pain, but he poured the blue aura she'd seen before on her arm, until it surrounded her arm like a bubble. It soothed her arm and was cool to the touch, and she relaxed as it ended her pain. It retracted back into Jet's hand as she tested it. It was stiff, but she didn't feel much pain.

"Thanks." she breathed out in relief. Jet nodded, muttering "Aquos Heal", before ordering the bill, almost like he knew about Yang's tiredness. Putting it on a tab, the two walked out of the bar, Yang's arm on Jet's shoulder, the former being a little unsteady on her feet.

* * *

The two carried on towards the dorm rooms, where they were not overly surprised to see the rest of the team. Only Ruby looked up from the study she was doing, clutching her stomach, but when she saw Jet, she immediately bounced off her bed and strode over to him, only stopping when she saw Yang was on his back at that point.

"What's up with Yang?" she asked, nervousness in her voice. Yang wanted to reply but Jet spoke quickly.

"Let me get her onto her bed, she's really tired right now, then I'll explain."

Ruby nodded, and let Jet carry Yang to her bunk, and with surprisingly little effort, he threw Yang up onto her bunk, where she swiftly fell asleep with a groan of thanks. Jet then turned to Ruby, and sat down with her at the desk. Weiss joined them, interested in what had happened.

"Yang and I were just chatting at the bar, when I decided to arm wrestle her." Jet explained, and Ruby and Weiss' eyes widened at the prospect. "It tired us both out, so I brought Yang back."

As Jet began to relay the events back to the pair, Ruby gasping as she learnt how Jet had nearly won on several occasions, Jet smiled internally. It was great to be back.


	8. Chapter 8 - Caress of Darkness

Jet was feeling great as he moved over to team RWBY's dorm room. His arm was back to normal from the arm wrestle he'd had with Yang, and Ruby normally spent Wednesdays alone in her dorm room, as she didn't have a class in the morning, while the rest of her team did.

As Jet walked through the door, he found Ruby still in bed, and considered snuggling down with her. But as he stepped on a dark glyph to raise himself to survey Ruby, he noticed she was not sleeping. She was curled up into a ball, and she looked like she was sweating even as she shivered.

Before Jet could react, Ruby gave a small hiccup, before she practically disappeared from her bed and into the nearby bathroom, though Jet recognised her semblance in use. Propelling himself from the glyph to give chase, he heard Ruby retching, before she threw up, violently. She didn't seem to have much to expel, however, and she collapsed against the toilet as Jet approached.

He knelt down next to her and lightly massaged her back, Ruby giving a violent jump of shock at his first touch, but relaxing when she realised it was Jet. She was shivering as she turned to look at him, and smiled weakly, though her eyes conveyed more to Jet than she'd intended. Filling his two cupped hands with water, he brought them to Ruby.

"Let's wash out your mouth now, Ruby." he said. Ruby nodded in thanks, sucking up the water before spitting it out into the toilet. Hitting the flush, Jet lifted Ruby gently into his arms, before carrying her back to her bed. Ruby clutched at Jet for his warmth as he walked, and he responded, flaring that familiar heat, causing her to melt into his arms.

Stepping back onto the dark glyph, Jet tucked Ruby into her own bed, the latter still looking pale. Activating Izzet's semblance, Jet froze time and walked into the bathroom again, removing his customary jacket to reveal a dark grey tank top and stretched his wings, before retracting them and gathering two cups and a bowl, in case Ruby needed to be sick again.

Moving back to his original position, Jet allowed time to flow again, before laying the objects he'd gathered on another glyph at waist height. Ruby was curled into a ball, only her head was visible from under the covers. She looked so pathetic and helpless that Jet found his emotional defences being pierced, like butter against a hot knife.

The door to the dorm room opened with a bang, causing Ruby to jump and Jet to hiss angrily as he wheeled around, Midnight Rose materialising in his hands. It was Glynda Goodwitch, and she didn't look happy.

"Jet. Where have you been?" she asked loudly, and was about to continue when she saw Midnight Rose's railgun aimed directly at her, and Jet's furious expression behind it. Not much scared her these days, but even she was silenced by the fury in his eyes as he extended his wings behind him.

"As you can _plainly_ see," Jet hissed angrily, putting emphasis on the word, as Ruby erupted into a coughing fit and covered her ears, "Ruby is significantly unwell, and if ANYONE raises their voice in here, or in the immediate area, I will personally wipe them off the face of this damn planet."

* * *

Goodwitch felt pure anger emitting from the student as he spoke those words, and knew he would follow along with that promise. Jet was not to be trifled with when his lover was ill, it seemed.

"My apologies, Jet." Goodwitch replied, in a lower voice. "Would you care to explain why you are not in class? You could have taken Ruby to the hospital building, goodness knows you've been there with her countless times."

She was referring to the end results of RWBY against LIJN in the tournament, which was over, and the trophy now stood on the desk in their room. Jet lowered Midnight Rose and retracted his wings.

He gestured towards Ruby, and simply said, "I can't leave her when she's like this. I'd be tearing my own heart out."

As if Ruby had been listening the whole time, she squeaked "Don't take Jet."

Goodwitch sighed. Jet could be excused, but she was surprised that they cared for each-other that deeply. Standing on her own glyph, she surveyed Ruby, and checked her temperature, before noticing her shivering. Ruby retracted immediately at her cold touch, and Jet hissed softly again, reminding her of a cobra coiled around its nest.

"This looks like a nasty bug." she conceded. "Has she been sick?"

"I suspect multiple times, though I only witnessed one of those parts." Jet said in response, cupping his hand around Ruby's cheek, and she clutched it in response, smiling as she did so, even though her eyes were shut tight. Goodwitch turned to leave.

"Rest well, Ruby." she muttered as she closed the door.

She did not get far down the corridor when she found Yang and Izzet walking back up it, evidently about to check on Ruby. Yang was not talking very loudly, but she'd already seen what Jet was capable of in his current state, and had to warn the brawler.

"Ms Xiao Long and Ms Xinerbell." she addressed them. The pair came to a halt, wary. "I have come to warn you that Ruby is… unwell. She's currently being cared for by Jet."

Yang smiled even as worry for her sister took the priority spot in her mind. She could rely on Jet, one of her best friends.

"However." Goodwitch continued. "Jet, while he is reasonable, is also naturally concerned for Ruby. Disturbing her will make him very… volatile." she said, choosing her words carefully.

"Ok, Miss." Yang said, and Izzet turned to look at her. "We'll be quiet."

"I fear Jet will most likely be the one dishing out punishments if you don't heed my warning." Goodwitch warned, passing them as she headed out of the door.

* * *

Yang and Izzet quickly moved to team RWBY's dorm, and slowly opened the door. They entered, and the sight before them would seal the bond between Ruby and Jet in Yang's eyes.

Ruby was still curled up into a ball. Jet was with her, his wings covering her as they transmitted warmth through his black feathers. Ruby was quietly breathing, having fallen asleep, and was smiling weakly in her sleep as Jet stroked her hair with his free hand, the other clasping Ruby's hand.

At their intrusion, Jet looked up from his vigil, and they saw bloodshot eyes, and a discerning frown upon his face. Izzet quickly made a zipping motion at her mouth as Yang spoke softly to Jet.

"We'll be quiet. Don't worry."

Jet motionlessly conjured two more dark glyphs for the two girls, inviting them. Ruby stirred a little as Jet removed one of his wings, and awoke to see Yang and Izzet.

"Hey sis." Yang whispered as Ruby smiled weakly.

Izzet seemed to be communicating telepathically with Jet, as both had eyes locked on the other. Finally, they broke, and Jet turned to Yang.

"Izzet's going to make her better. We should let her do her work." Jet whispered to Yang. As he withdrew contact with Ruby, she tried weakly to grab him, but he leant down to whisper to her, saying; "I'm going to let Dr Izzet work her magic on you. As soon as she's done, I'll be back."

Ruby nodded as Izzet opened her custom backpack, and Jet stepped off the dark glyph, followed by Yang. She let him take two steps before pulling him into a hug. Jet went stiff at first, but relaxed, and permitted the hug.

"Thank you for watching over Ruby." Yang said, pulling Jet so they were face to face. He was shorter than the brawler, but after the demonstration of strength he'd shown with their arm wrestle, she knew never to underestimate Jet again, in any aspect. "Ruby hates being alone, and it means a lot to us that you were there with her, even though you skipped class."

Jet responded with a light-hearted chuckle. "I was so worried. You know how close Ruby and I are. When Goodwitch disturbed her, I nearly ended her on the spot." he confessed.

"It's a good thing you didn't, Romeo." Yank joked. "Calm down. Killing someone won't make Ruby better, y'know?" she continued.

"The only reason I'm calm right now is Izzet." Jet said, just as Ruby gave a small yelp of pain as Izzet tapped her with a glowing hand. "She's an unparalleled medic. Nouvelle and Lilac both owe their lives to her."

Yang smiled at the sentiment, and they both clambered up to Yang's bed, where they sat. "I think the whole time changing thing works in her favour there." she said, watching Ruby.

"It does. See how Izzet appears to teleport every now and again? That's her stopping time and starting it." Jet explained, as Yang gasped in wonder. Turning to the blonde, he offered a small smile. "I have the same power, ever since Izzet allowed me to copy her semblance."

They were distracted by Izzet suddenly speaking to them both via telepathy.

"_All done. Just let her rest now. The bugs are gone_." she sang from the back of their heads.

Yang decided that it would be tactful to leave, and sent a thought to Izzet, which she nodded. Striding out of the door after Izzet, Yang turned to Jet and tapped her heart with a fist. It was Yang's own symbol of respect, and Jet knew it.

She slowly closed the door as Jet approached Ruby, and deep down, she felt touched that Jet cared that much to threaten someone like Goodwitch. She had seemed legitimately scared of him too.

She turned to Izzet and asked the question that had been playing on her mind. She smiled, and replied.

"_As soon as she wakes up_."


	9. Chapter 9 - Friend or Foe?

As Ruby woke up, she realised that she'd slept all the way through that day. She realised that two things were different about this particular morning. The first brought her happiness. The second gave a little disappointment. Both gifted confusion.

Ruby was completely recovered from her sickness which she'd felt sure would take a couple of days to recover.

And Jet wasn't asleep beside her.

Looking around, she noticed that both Blake and Weiss weren't there either. Thankfully, it was another weekend, but where were they?

* * *

"I just wanted to speak about it." Weiss retorted indignantly to Blake, who stood with an irritated look on her face.

"You dragged me out here to the training grounds, and you're standing two feet in front of me. Is it really that bad for Ruby to hear about our suspicions?" Blake asked, with a look that said 'Really?' to Weiss. She would not back down.

"If either of them hear about our suspicions, they'll just shoot us down. and besides, he's –" Weiss began, but before she could continue her lecture, she heard a familiar voice from above her.

"Hear about what?" Jet asked, before he plummeted directly downwards from the overcast sky and landed directly beside Weiss, who jumped as he hit the clay ground. She was furious, and Blake now looked far from happy.

"Were you eavesdropping the entire time? If so, I might-" Weiss started to ask Jet sternly, but he cut her off by sweeping his hand in a very good imitation of her. He stood with his arms and legs apart, in a stance that plainly said "Come at me."

"Try me, Weiss. And no, I only just happened to hear you from the clouds above." Jet replied smoothly. "Besides, I'm not just here for a chat. It was actually very convenient that I caught you two here."

"What is it?" Blake asked, her neutral tone not giving much away.

"I need to train. I've developed some new abilities that I can use. Plus, it seems that whenever I fight with anyone, it always ends quickly." Jet explained. Now Weiss felt somewhat surprised. He was an extremely powerful fighter, on par with an entire team of Hunters in training. Why would he seek them out? Fortunately, Blake spoke for her.

"Why do you see that as necessary? You're too strong for us." Blake said bluntly, ignoring Weiss' offended growl.

"Well, think about it this way, ladies." Jet proffered, leaning up against a wall and folding his arms. "There's three times we fought. Weiss confronting me back in Vale, our tournament match, and our encounter in the cave. What gave me victory back then?"

Weiss thought about this. She had a crystal clear memory of each event. She cast her mind back to the moments when she knew her side was beginning to lose.

* * *

Weiss replayed the events of her first confrontation with Jet. She had him pinned, and was halfway through unleashing jab after jab to his stomach. Then, that moment when she paused.

"You can't do anything. You're stuck, and I'm going to personally ensure you never bother our leader again. How can you possibly stop me?" she asked.

"I… can't." Jet coughed out, the blows to his chest starting to get the better of him. "But we are… Legion."

Something slammed into her side, and Weiss was barrelled over by the new arrival, who had shrouded herself with electricity before tackling Weiss, knocking the wind out of her even as she was burned by the electric power behind it. She rolled straight into a brick wall, before standing up.

Lilac now stood between her and Jet, who was now rising, his wounds being healed by Izzet, who was performing her time-reversal on him. Nouvelle leaped from a building and joined her, before the entirety of Team LIJN stood before her, and her rage was temporarily quelled at the knowledge that it was a four on one fight.

* * *

"Final Phase!"

Lilac danced out of the way of another lunge with Myrtenaster from Weiss, but instead of performing a counter with her whips as she had done previously to drain Weiss' aura this low, she moved to Jet's side as his call. She'd dealt a battering of blows to the blonde gymnast, however, and Lilac's aura was also in the red.

Weiss regrouped with Ruby and Yang, Blake obviously having gone down at some point. Yang was looking around for Blake, but Ruby had her eyes fixed on their three opponents.

"Time to show you what our secret move is! Legion End: Dark Ultimatum!" Jet yelled out. Weiss turned just in time to see Jet cut down both of his teammates with Midnight Rose, Lilac screaming in pain.

"Why would you do that?" Yang yelled. Weiss agreed with her, why HAD he done that? She then turned and saw that Jet's aura was rising, until the bar was full. Jet's aura had been restored by that!

"Um, Yang? Ruby?" she called, hoping to bring this to their attention.

"Now!" Jet roared, his voice piercing Weiss' ears with its volume. "YOU. ARE. FINISHED!"

* * *

Weiss' eyes were blurry. Yang was on top of her, Blake lying somewhere close too. She watched as her eyes slowly refocused on Ruby returning to Jet's side. So SHE had attacked Blake.

Her attention was drawn by Jet, who was emitting a red light, and she say, behind the crystals and armour, those black eyes.

"End of the line. Lock!" he called, pointing at Weiss.

Weiss felt something trap her. She tried to move, but to do so much as blink was impossible. She sensed the red aura surrounding her and struggled for all she was worth against its grip, but she was completely trapped.

Locked.

* * *

Weiss returned to reality. Jet gave her an encouraging look, and Blake was silent beside her.

"Your team, that ultimatum move, and the locking semblance." Weiss finally answered. Jet grinned in approval, and Weiss prided herself in her accurate memory. It often resulted in good grades.

"Well," Jet said, as he took two steps back, "my team isn't here. So that eliminates my superior numbers. And no," he added at Blake's questioning look that Weiss caught out of the corner of her eye, "I cannot call them into battle. Dark Ultimatum requires a willing sacrifice, so with my team gone, that's out of the question too."

"What about your locks?" Weiss asked, suspicious of this last answer.

"Observe." Jet simply commanded, before pointing at Weiss. She raised Myrtenaster defensively. She would not let him lock her without a fight!


	10. Chapter 10 - Unveiled Power

"Lock!" Jet called, and Weiss immediately lunged, not prepared to let that happen. To her surprise, Jet immediately took flight with his wings, dodging her attack, and Weiss realised that the lock had failed, but if Jet dodged, then that means…

"You expected that to fail?" she slowly asked as Jet landed behind her, not bothering to turn around.

"I don't know what happened to my locking ability, but consider it disabled." Jet replied. "Now that my three main advantages are useless, may we spar? You two against me."

"There's only one other thing we won't allow." Blake commented. "Your Super Activations."

"Seems fair." Jet deadpanned, before taking flight and hovering in the air. She watched with Blake as he unfolded his classic weapon, Midnight Rose. A copy of Ruby's weapon formed out of darkness which had been both strengthened and modified by Jet. Ruby definitely had Jet beat in terms of sheer speed, but Jet was already becoming her equal in terms of their weapons.

The aura indicators at the side of the training ground blared into life at his gesture. Jet then landed before addressing them. He slashed towards his own indicator, and a blue line appeared on his bar, fairly close to the end point of the gage. If Weiss had to guess, she'd think it was about 15%. But why did he mark the meter?

"At that line's point, I will trigger my super activation in a real-life duel." Jet explained. "You simply have to get me to that point. I win if both of your auras are in the red. That sound alright?"

Weiss smiled despite herself. That only happened when their auras hit 5% or less. Jet had just set the task of dealing 95% of damage to both of them, without taking 85% himself. There again… he seemed pretty confident.

"Begin!" she called, before firing several fireballs at him, Blake catching her drift and switching Gambol Shroud to gun form, before unleashing a withering hail of bullets to compliment the barrage of fire. Jet immediately took off, blocking Weiss' fireballs and dodging the bullets, before he pointed at both Weiss and Blake before clenching his fist and raising it upwards, a blue flame in his palm.

Weiss suddenly felt heat below her, and looked down, but immediately dived out of the way of a pillar of flame that had appeared at her feet. Blake, having better senses than her, had moved already, but she dived again suddenly. Why would –

BAM!

Weiss was blasted backwards and upwards by a second flame pillar, and she felt her aura take massive damage even as the gage plummeted to somewhere about 45%. From the ground, she watched as Blake dodged yet another blast.

How was he that strong?

She checked the aura levels. Hers and Blake's were stable, but Jet's aura seemed to decrease with each of his attacks. How had she not realised it before? Getting up, she shot a very small, but very fast, pulse of ice at Jet, which connected and sent him plummeting back to the ground. Weiss ran over to Blake as she caught her breath.

"Blake! I've figured out how Jet's so strong! He's not only using dust!" she said to her beleaguered teammate. Blake merely nodded as Jet started to rise, gesturing for Weiss to continue. "He's using his own aura to replace some of the dust and allow for more attacks. We just have to outlast him."

* * *

Weiss knew about these kinds of attacks from her studies prior to attending Beacon. Only certain individuals could use these dust-based attacks. Instead of just dust, the user projects force using part of their own aura, creating a devastating barrage of explosively powerful attacks that could be used again in a short space of time.

The drawback was that the aura would steadily be depleted with each attack, and eventually the attacks would fail because the aura would be completely consumed. This would have the effect of rendering Jet defenceless if it happened! It was probably Jet's uncopied semblance, and the reason why, when compounded with Dark Ultimatum or his Super Activations, they became unstoppable.

* * *

With that in mind, she brought herself back to reality, and nearly missed Blake's charge against Jet, who met her head on.

Weiss checked Jet's aura as she sent three icy blasts at Jet. Jet deflected each with a black energy shield, and his aura decreased from 85% to 75%. As Blake slashed in a series of confounding patters and dodged the returning swipes from Jet, which were shrouded in purple flames, his aura started decreasing, from both blocking Blake's attacks and retaliating.

This continued until Jet's aura reached 45%, when Weiss realised, after firing another barrage of fireballs, that Jet started to radiate red light. Before she could warn Blake, his red shockwave attack blasted from his chest, sending Blake flying and causing her aura to plummet from 100% to 35%, and Jet's to drop to 25%. Weiss saw Blake's go down another 5% when she hit the ground, and seized her chance.

She used a glyph to speed towards Jet, aiming her rapier directly at his chest, knowing his aura would cover him. She smashed into him, knocking them both down, but Weiss leapt away as a red glow surrounded Jet. The pulse never came, however, and Jet instead rose, his aura at 16%, just an inch off the blue line on the gage. He did not attack, however.

"Well fought. I concede." Jet said, and fired an ice attack into the air, causing his aura to drop below the blue line. He immediately surrounded himself with an aquatic blue substance that appeared out of nowhere, and Weiss saw his aura start to rise. Within half a minute, it was back at 100%, and with a splash that covered both Weiss and Blake in the soothing, cool liquid, it vanished.

"We managed to work out how you're so strong." Blake commented to Jet.

"Oh?" Jet queried.

"You use your aura as well as dust." Weiss explained. "You clearly didn't have any way to attack us without using any more aura, so you forfeited." At this, Jet grinned and closed his eyes.

"I knew you two were smart. Yes, I use those forms of attacks. This is my original semblance, beyond my ability to copy other semblances." Jet said, taking a short bow. "And now, I must bid you two farewell."

He took off, ignoring Weiss' 'Wait!'.

'What was with him?' Weiss asked herself, as she turned to look at Blake.


	11. Chapter 11 - Play, Pleasure and Plans

Ruby and Weiss were sat at the window of their dorm room. The tree near their window had been cut down, and Ruby could see Jet having a snowball fight with Nora and Sun, with Neptune and Ren watching from a nearby bench. Winter was definitely approaching, and with it, some interesting developments.

It was the first of December, two days away from Ruby's birthday. The December holidays had begun, meaning they wouldn't have classes again until the second of January, something Ruby was very pleased about. As they watched Jet getting knocked off his feet from a combined assault from Nora and Sun, Ruby could stand it no longer. She turned to Weiss, who was still watching the snowball fight outside.

"I'm going out. You coming?" Ruby asked, aware of what Weiss would say.

"You go. I'm going to Vale shortly to do some shopping." Weiss said in that clear, crisp voice of hers. "Enjoy your time with Jet."

"I will." Ruby replied, and shot out of the door, already dressed in her winter version of her combat attire, and sped towards the fight, pooling snow behind her in her tailwind.

* * *

Jet noticed her coming and immediately teleported out of the way of the burgeoning avalanche headed for them. Ruby leaped into the air and let her tailwind pelt Jet's adversaries with snow, before she landed gracefully next to Jet. He grinned at her, and she returned the sentiment.

"Glad to see you came to my aid." he growled, as Nora and Sun got to their feet.

"Let's get them!" Ruby yelled, and Jet roared his own battle cry as he gathered snow in both hands and launched them at his opponents. Nora ducked out of the way and Sun took the hit on his bare chest and shrugged it off before both threw snowballs back. Ruby hugged Jet as he used his wings to deflect both, then Ruby grabbed some snow as Jet gathered more, but was interrupted when a large snowball thrown hard by Nora smacked him in the jaw, his blocking wing not being fast enough to stop it.

Throwing up a dark glyph, he directed it under Nora within the snow before releasing force upwards, catching her in the snowy blast and throwing her up in the air! While he readied a snowball to get her with on the way back down, Ruby and Sun engaged in close quarters, throwing snowballs, dodging, and ending with Ruby and Sun simultaneously throwing snow down each other's shirts.

It was blisteringly cold, but Ruby was having the time of her life, and both her Sun finally tired out, and turned to watch Jet end Nora's fight by trapping her in glyphs and following up with a massive snowball that was twice the size of a football. It seemed as though he was having fun too, and the four of them were still laughing by the time Ren and Neptune came to check on them, along with Yang, who immediately tackled her and Jet to the ground, blanketing them all in snow.

As Jet used another dark glyph to push Yang off them, Ruby was still gasping from having laughed so hard, and Jet took her in his arms. Knowing what this meant, Ruby prepared herself for Jet's take off, which he did, taking her back to the dorm room via a cool winter's flight over Beacon.

As Jet landed at the entrance of the dorm room, gently placing Ruby on the ground, he released a blast of heat from his wings to heat themselves up, something Ruby smiled at him in appreciation of.

* * *

It had gotten to the point where neither needed to speak, being so in-tune with each other's thoughts that Weiss had remarked once that he would serve as a better partner than her, though Ruby quickly reminded her about her strengths over Jet, and she had not brought up the point ever since.

The rest of Jet's team had gone out for the holidays, returning on the 28th, so Jet had moved his relatively few items of apparel into Team RWBY's Dorm. As they both entered, Ruby's bunk, which Jet had now retrofitted with the same technology that his own had, was now floating lazily, and hovering over Weiss' bunk. Yang and Blake had replaced theirs with a more traditional bunk bed, as neither Yang nor Blake could sleep on a floating bed like Jet and Ruby.

Jet leapt up onto the bed, having stripped off his outer black cloak that he wore in place of his jacket, and wore a dark blue long-sleeve t-shirt that had holes for his wings, along with matching tracksuit bottoms. Over the holidays, Jet and Ruby had developed a habit of afternoon naps, to compensate for the late nights that the older members of their teams would often keep them up until.

Ruby followed him, jumping onto the bed, making it wobble a little before it settled in mid-air again. Ruby snuggled up to Jet as he put his arm around her, bringing her closer. After the excitement of the morning, neither could drift off as they normally could, so Ruby broke the silence.

"That snowball fight was really fun." Ruby said, lazily as she pressed herself into Jet, feeling an unfamiliar twinge at her stomach as she did so, along with a tingling below.

"Yeah. It was." Ruby heard Jet's reply. "I feel sorry for Nora. That last snowball…" he trailed off.

"Good thing I was on your side." Ruby whispered, and Jet chuckled.

"I was actually tempted to turn it into a free-for-all with a backstab in the form of a snowball…" Jet whispered with a grin, and Ruby gave him a pouting look. "…but I couldn't force myself to do it."

"Best for you if you didn't." Ruby said. She went for a kiss, but someone cleared their throat, interrupting them.

"I might as well go if that's the kind of thing to expect." Blake suddenly announced, causing the couple to jump. Neither had noticed her on her bed, with a book in her hands. She gave them a reassuring smile, before leaving the room.

"Well… that was unexpected." Jet admitted. "I swear half the time she's invisible."

"Don't worry about it." Ruby said, stroking Jet's wing muscles in an effort to calm him down. It worked, and he returned to his original position, facing Ruby. "Do you know about what my team have planned for my birthday?" she asked, giving Jet one of her best puppy eye stares, but Jet was one of the few people immune to them, and she knew she had little chance. Pulling her close, he whispered a cryptic message, one that would haunt Ruby until the third day of the month.

"What is the one event that Weiss, Blake and Yang can agree on? Something that is as plain as paper, but as special as yourself? Find that answer, and you will know."

* * *

It was not long before Ruby was asleep, still cuddling into Jet. From the entrance to the dorm, another Jet stood, looking quite proud at his handiwork. The shadow clone feigned sleep as it cuddled into Ruby. Jet had to admit, he was quite jealous of it, but made a mental note to give his share of love later.

He strode into the dining halls, where the last of breakfast was being served. Slowing down time, he zipped around, gathering his food before returning to a table where he joined Weiss, Yang and Blake, and returned time to normal.

"Sorry I'm late." Jet apologised as Weiss gave him a cold stare. "Difficult switch-a-roo with a shadow clone while Ruby had her nap.

"Let's get down to business." Yang said, before Weiss could comment. "We're going to have our party in the afternoon, after Jet's done distracting Ruby for the morning. What should we do?"

"Well, it has to be special." Blake said dryly.

"Of course it has to be special, Blake!" Weiss practically shouted. Calming down, she continued. "It also has to be flashy, since you know what Ruby's like."

"What about a movie outing?" Yang suggested, but both Blake and Weiss shook their heads in disapproval.

"Perhaps a trip to a restaurant?" Weiss thought aloud, but Jet knew that wouldn't sit well with Ruby.

"I wouldn't think so. Not Ruby." Blake replied.

"How about we celebrate it in your dorm room?" Jet asked. "We could decorate it, and it would be far easier to get the presents to her. My present to her can also wait until the night."

"Wait." Yang said, as Weiss and Blake nodded in agreement. "Jet, you can't do that! It has to be all together!"

Jet sighed. He'd promised himself that no-one would know, and that probably just gave them reason to inquire further.

"It's a special present. Don't worry," he said at Yang's reproachful look, "I'll have my own gifts for her at the time, just don't expect them to be as big as yours."

"What is it?" Blake asked.

"Need to know basis." Jet quickly answered. "Just don't expect her or me to be back that night."

"Anyway." Weiss interrupted, trying to draw the attention off Jet. "How should we decorate the room? It has to be easy to put away." she asked the group, adding a scornful tone to that last remark as she glared at Jet and Yang, both of whom flashed 'who, me?' expressions on their faces.

"I have a couple of ideas." Blake said, and they all leaned closer as she whispered a couple of ideas. By the end, both Jet and Yang were grinning at each other, while Weiss rolled her eyes.

"This is going to be fun." Yang said, grinning evilly.

"Yes sis, it will be." Jet agreed, matching her grin.


	12. Chapter 12 - Culmination

Through the day leading up to Ruby's birthday, Jet and the rest of her team had been deflecting request after request by Ruby to know about their plans and her presents. All of them, even Jet, hadn't given anything away, and so Ruby soon gave up. Yang, on Jet's request, went to cheer her sister up during the evening, and she slept next to Jet in generally high spirits.

When Ruby woke up next, she saw the familiar cocoon structure that was Jet's heating wings. She realized that it was impossible to leave without waking him. 'Clever devil' she thought, as she begun to shake Jet awake. He opened his eyes, and unfurled his wings, revealing her three sleeping teammates and no change to the scenery.

Ruby couldn't hide her disappointment, but quickly dispelled it when she remembered who she was with. This was reaffirmed when that person whispered "Happy Birthday" in her ear, then put his arms around her and kissed her. She returned it, and they leapt down together.

* * *

After they both shot through the shower and got dressed, Jet took Ruby out of the dorm room and lead her to the mechanics room. Sitting down on a chair next to a work bench, Jet sat beside her, and she gave him a curious expression.

"I thought we might service our weapons together." Jet said, and Ruby eagerly pulled out Crescent Rose, while Jet smiled at her enthusiasm before pulling out Midnight Rose. As they both cleaned their weapons and oiled them, Ruby marvelled at how similar Midnight Rose was to Crescent Rose, yet so very different in terms of machinery.

The bolt action and chamber were replaced with power coils and cells, and the barrel was instead a focussing point for the high power laser scythe. The laser blade was made of shadow energy that was formed when Jet wielded it, moulded by more focussing lens. Finally, the symbol of it was a black rose, with several red thorns.

Once they had finished, they both picked up their weapons, and in perfect synchronisation, twirled their scythes, before folding them up and placing them on their backs in one fluid motion. Somebody applauded from behind them, and both wheeled round to see Professor Ozpin standing there.

"It is rare to see students who are so fully in tune with one another." he said, taking a sip from his customary cup of tea. "Happy birthday, Ruby." he added.

"Thank you sir." Both Ruby and Jet answered, before turning to look at each other before a giggle escaped Ruby and Ozpin chuckled.

"I was actually hoping to check on you two, after the events of the… arrest." he said, and Ruby stiffened at the mention of it.

"I can assure you, sir, no mark remains hidden, but none hinder me." Jet replied, solemnly.

"Good." Ozpin remarked. "If ever you need someone to talk to, you need only ask."

"Of course." Ruby answered for Jet, who smiled at her in appreciation. Ozpin nodded to each of them, then left, not long before Jet and Ruby left to return to their dorm room. Ruby knew that Jet still held that against himself, but she'd done her best to help him over it.

* * *

As Jet and Ruby neared the door to their dorm room, Jet braced himself, knowing what was coming. As Ruby opened the door, what followed was a deafening shout of 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY!'

The dorm room had drastically changed. Balloons were attached to the bedposts and confetti lay on the floor amidst a stack of gifts from Weiss, Blake, Yang, Jet, Penny and team JNPR, all of whom were in the room. As Ruby stood in awe and shock, Jet gently nudged her with one of his wings, and she stepped inside as everyone, Jet included, sang Happy Birthday.

As this ended, Jet flapped his wings, throwing a gust that sent all of the confetti up into the air, causing several people to cheer and Weiss to scowl at Jet for the mess. Jet bowed apologetically, before blasting her with another gust from his wings while her back was turned, earning him a pillow in the face, causing Ruby, Yang and Nora to crack up laughing, and gained smiles from the rest.

Ruby then turned to her presents. She started with the largest, a present from Yang, which was revealed to be a set of ammunition for Crescent Rose along with more clips. Blake had gotten her a book on advanced weapons servicing, along with a magazine on the latest weapons technology. Weiss' present was next, which was a new weapons cleaning kit, and she soon discovered that Ren had had the same idea, also giving her a cleaning kit.

Penny had given her a set of neon glowing playing cards, in clear reference to their games back in that cave, while Jaune had given her a framed picture of Teams RWBY and JNPR stood side by side, and Nora had gotten her some new experimental sniper rounds that were explosive. She then turned to the two smallest presents, Pyrrah's and Jet's.

"Open mine last." Jet insisted, and Pyrrah nodded. Ruby tore at the wrapping paper on her present, and found a locket in the shape of a golden heart. Opening it, she found Jet's photo, along with Yang's on the other side. She gave Pyrrah a hug, as that was one of the best gifts so far, and then turned to Jet's tiny present, which was the size of a small jewellery box.

Giving him a slightly dejected look, she opened it, and everyone in the room, except Jet, gasped. It was a glass box, but inside was a miniature version of Ruby and Jet, constructed out of wood and perfectly painted, both crouched back-to-back, Crescent Rose and Midnight Rose ready and held by the two figures. They were perfect look-alikes, not missing a single detail, Jet's wings tucked behind his back.

She immediately passed it to Yang, who was reaching to have a look, before she brought Jet down to the ground for a hug, who inadvertently flapped his wings in surprise and threw wrapping paper and confetti back into the air. All around them, conversation, smiles and cheering for Ruby immersed the small girl as she let go of Jet before starting to play with her toys like an excited little puppy.

Only Weiss noticed Jet disappear into thin air, and she gave an excuse that she'd forgotten something in the library before giving chase to the blur that appeared outside their dorm.

* * *

She finally caught up to Jet as he stopped outside the building and took out his scroll, which he used to make a call. He'd only just put it down when Weiss spoke up.

"Going somewhere?"

Jet turned, and met Weiss' gaze, a grin plastered on his face.

* * *

"Ruby, whose present do you think is the best?" Yang asked her sister, as team JNPR traipsed off to their dorm. The sun was setting outside as Penny also disappeared, after giving Ruby a friendly smile and a wave. Ruby was wondering where Jet and Weiss had gone before Yang asked, and swiftly brought herself back to reality.

"Um…" she stalled, as both Yang and Blake watched her, waiting for her response. "I don't wanna have to rank my friends…"

Before Yang could respond, Jet opened the door, followed by Weiss who was in shock, her mouth in a perfect 'o' shape. Jet waved, but Ruby's attention was drawn to Weiss.

"Yang, Blake, can you take care of Weiss? Me and Ruby are going to head out." Jet said, promptly placing Weiss on her bed as she continued to gape at Jet.

"Where are we going?" Ruby asked, as she got up.

"You'll see." Jet said, leading Ruby out, and then he turned back to the dorm as she stepped out into the corridor. "Weiss'll tell you where. Goodnight!"

As Ruby took Jet's proffered hand and lead her out of the dorm room building, she started to pull on Jet's hand. She needed an answer. Jet stopped just as they stepped outside, and turned to face her, still holding her hand.

"I wanna know." Ruby insisted, smiling and using her puppy dog eyes. Jet's expression softened.

"The Shining Jewel Hotel." he replied.

* * *

"WHAAAT?!" Yang practically yelled in disbelief as Blake covered her ears, but still looked shocked. "He's taking her to the most comfortable, most romantic, FIVE STAR HOTEL?! He's taking her to THAT hotel?"

Weiss tentatively nodded, still speechless, as Blake sighed.

"He did tell us it would be special." she commented, dryly.

* * *

"Sounds like a nice place." Ruby commented as they flew over the neon lights and flying headlights that was Vale at night. She was riding on Jet's back, and he was gentler and slower in his flight than he would normally be. She figured it was because of her birthday.

"That's not all." Jet replied as he tilted slightly to avoid a passing bird. "I've got a contact there. You'll be surprised."

They soon reached their destination, and Jet gently landed, in front of a large building with gold lined windows and roof, a large staircase leading up to the main hall along with a red carpet. Beautiful rose bushes lay nearby as Ruby took the whole spectacle in, and turned to look at Jet, as he took both her hands in his own.

"Happy Birthday, Ruby." Jet simply said, as he then followed up with a pure kiss on her lips.


	13. Chapter 13 - Ruby and Jet

As Jet led Ruby inside, she marvelled at all of the jewelled decorations, and nearly missed who Jet was speaking to at the receptionist's desk.

"Hi Nouvelle!" Jet said, as she beamed in recognition at her leader, shaking his hand and Ruby's when Jet gave Ruby a gentle tap on the back.

"Good Evening, Master Jet and Mademoiselle Ruby, and happy birthday as well." Nouvelle said, tilting her head towards Ruby as she nodded in appreciation.

"Do I have to say anything?" Jet asked, and Ruby was about to comment on the weirdness of that question when Nouvelle cut her off with her answer.

"No. First class room for ze night, along with ze higher gold tier breakfast for two and VIP pass for tomorrow." Nouvelle recited, as Jet turned to Ruby, who barely kept her mouth shut in awe.

"All paid for in advance." he said with a smile. Nouvelle cleared her throat, and they both turned back to face her.

"Actually, I was able to give 'im a cheeky little discount, as my present for you." Nouvelle whispered to Ruby. "Shall I show you to ze room?"

"That would be preferable, yes." Jet said, assuming a formal tone, and Nouvelle led Ruby and Jet up a flight of stairs, and passed by several rooms, with a large distance in-between each door. Another flight of stairs later, and they passed through another set of the same rooms, until they reached a golden door.

Nouvelle handed Jet the key, and took her leave. Jet then turned to Ruby, his hand on the door.

"Welcome to possibly the best night's sleep you'll have!" he said, before throwing the door wide open.

Ruby gasped. She had been expecting a small room, but instead was treated to the sight of a room several times larger than her own dorm room. A luxuriously soft red carpet coupled with a grand four poster bed that dwarfed the floating bed she normally slept in sitting to her right. The wall paper was a dull gold colour, and a noticeably empty wall on her left. Directly in front of her sat a gold trimmed door, and the room was bathed in a warm ceiling light that hung from the centre of the ceiling.

Ruby was looking at all of this in awe and barely noticed as Jet sat her down on the bed. Returning to her senses, Jet pointed over at two small suitcases which had been resting in the corner of the room.

"I took care of the baggage in advance." he said, smiling as Ruby beamed at him, then pulled her in for a kiss. It was the most passionate kiss they'd had in a long time, easily eclipsing what Ruby had felt before. She was practically melting into his touch, and as the kiss continued, she began to feel… urges. It was the only way she could describe it to herself.

As they broke apart, a small sliver of saliva still hung between them, before it broke, and Jet smiled warmly at her.

"And now, for the main event!" he chuckled, leading Ruby to the door she'd seen before.

* * *

Ruby leaned back into Jet's arms as he began. They were both in bathing suits, and sitting in a fairly large spa bath, so large that Ruby or Jet could fully immerse themselves in the soapy warm water. Jet had his wings outstretched, soaking them in the smothering warmth of the spa, and had turned Ruby around, before whispering in a voice part-seductive and part casual, "Time for the present itself."

Jet began to massage Ruby's bare shoulders, and she relaxed as he worked out all the knots and course areas, bringing her to a state of pure happiness as she felt him slowly work his way down, gentle yet firm, and Ruby felt the magic of his every touch. Every now and then, a particularly tight knot would cause Jet to apply a little more pressure, but Ruby simply lay there, enjoying the rush of pleasurable sensations.

Jet applied his strength to Ruby's lower back, and she felt him press, eliminating all the knots as she felt her whole body loosening. Jet then turned Ruby around, and put his soapy hands on her neck, repeating what he'd done on her back, moving down her chest, avoiding her private parts as he moved, slowly but sensually, across Ruby's leg.

Once he had finished, Ruby felt like dough in his hands as she floated towards him, intent in her eyes. She was a little disappointed that he hadn't attacked her more sensitive areas, but she grasped an outstretched wing before pulling herself closer to Jet, curling herself around him and maximising contact. Jet then started to soak Ruby's hair, reminding her of when Yang used to do it, and she knew what was coming next.

He pulled a bottle of rose scented shampoo and filled his palm with it, before rubbing it into her hair, the lather quickly frothing over the red and black locks. Jet then used a glyph to pour water onto Ruby's hair, careful not to let any soap splash onto her face. Normally, Ruby would have scorned him at this point, but he was doing everything he could to make this a special night, and she could not deny his touches were making her feel like a princess. Weiss would be jealous.

Jet finally finished, before letting the plug out of the bath. Both rose, and without a word, slipped into separate rooms to dry off and get changed into their night clothes. With a start, Ruby realised that Jet had already moved her pyjamas to the room she was in, almost as though he had planned this several steps in advance.

* * *

As she returned to the bedroom after drying her hair and changing, she found Jet already on top of the bed. He grinned, and waggled a finger in a 'come hither' gesture.

"Wait till you find out how comfortable this bed is."

* * *

Ruby was the first to awake to the sounds of heavy breathing. Groggily, she lay back into the heavenly comfort of the bed, her body brushed Jet's, reminding her of what they'd done together.

Savouring the moment, she began to delicately play with the feathers in Jet's wings, tweaking them, feeling their softness against her skin. She didn't even feel embarrassed by the fact that they were both in bed together.

Jet sighed peacefully as Ruby continued to play, moving closer and closer to the point where his wings met his back. She slowly rubbed the joints, eliciting a groan of pleasure. How Jet was still asleep Ruby would never know, but she was glad she got this chance to explore. Her hands moved to his neck while her chest met his back.

Suddenly, without warning, Jet reached back, and turned around, causing Ruby to give a little 'eep' in surprise. His gaze met hers, and Jet pecked her on the cheek, before looking at the time. It read 6:00, much too early. So he turned to Ruby, and held her in his arms, before doing something she didn't think was possible.

He started to sing, in a calm, smooth voice, loud enough for Ruby to hear yet as quiet as a whisper in reality.

"I… see... you… clear as the sun,

Shining as… a brilliant light,"

Ruby was beginning to feel her eyes closing shut as a wave of tiredness hit her.

"Glowing from… a gentle pillow,

Shining as… the life continues,"

Now Ruby felt her will to stay awake fading as the pace of the song crept up a tiny notch.

"But now night is creeping,

As you lay there, beaming,

Ne'er will you stop dreaming,

As it gives you feeling,"

Ruby knew she wouldn't last, and only barely heard the last part of the lullaby before she dozed off.

"Sleep…now,

Close your petals,

Sleep…now,

As night falls down."

Jet was soon rewarded by the sounds of Ruby's heavy breathing, and knew that his copied Semblance had done its job. It was called Mystical Melody.

Losing focus, Jet was not long after Ruby in falling asleep, and he cuddled into Ruby as he did, loving her like no-one else in the world. He was her 'crown jewel', and he would pour his heart out to her every day, if only for a single dose of her own love.

As Ruby had not expected, by the time she'd woken up next, breakfast in bed awaited her. Jet really was spoiling her too much. She didn't mind, however.

As Jet came out of the bathroom (he'd just taken a shower) he sat down on the opposite side of the bed from her. She turned to face him, and was about to tell him that the breakfast in bed really wasn't necessary, when she saw his face. He was wearing a serious expression, almost like he was considering his move in a very serious game of chess.

"Ruby, there is a very serious talk that I need to have with you. Are you alright for it?" Jet asked, his voice also conveying the gravity of the subject.

"What's wrong?" Ruby asked, feeling the icy cold grip of fear.

"Ruby… this might sound like a stupid question, but I need to hear it. Why do you love me?" Jet queried, and Ruby saw a small blush creep to the surface. She thought about that for a good five seconds (the longest time for her) before answering.

"Well… you're fun, handsome, gentle, and you're a weapons freak like me." Ruby answered quickly, and Jet waved a hand as if to say 'Slow down'. "Sorry. Most of all, you see me for who I am, not where I am. Does that cover it?" Ruby asked, hoping to get out of this as soon as possible. Jet clearly had other plans though.

"I'm going to be frank, Ruby." Jet stated. "I don't know what I'm going to do."

"What do you mean?" Ruby pressed, desperate to get to the bottom of this, suffering inside at Jet's pained expression.

"Once I become a hunter and my personal duties are fulfilled, what then? I'm currently a Grimm hybrid who's murdered and I don't have any direction. Where will I fit in?" Jet asked aloud. Ruby moved closer to him, and cupped his band in both of hers, throwing off the covers of the bed.

"You'll be with me. We'll both be hunters, Jet." Ruby whispered. "We'll find who made you do that and make them pay, then you and I'll work as hunters. If-if you want to, of course."

She saw Jet grin, and knew she'd succeeded in cheering him up.

"Thanks Ruby. Now, let's eat, and then I'll show you what else I have planned." Jet said, getting off the bed. At Ruby's shocked expression, he laughed. "You didn't think it was over yet, did you?"


	14. Chapter 14 - Misconception

"You didn't tell us you were going to the best freaking hotel in Vale!" Yang shouted, as Ruby and Jet both blushed. They had returned from The Shining Jewel after a day of touring shops, amusement parks, and restaurants, and were now both sat on their floating bed, with Yang up there with them. Blake and Weiss were out, for what reason Jet couldn't fathom.

"It was awesome, Yang!" Ruby squealed in delight, having not let go of Jet's arm since Yang had started questioning them. Yang rounded on her.

"I know! How on Remnant did you get the money to afford that?" she asked, loudly. Jet could almost taste her jealousy, and was glad when Ruby spoke for him, not wanting to brave Yang's wrath if he could avoid it.

"We got a pretty good discount from Nouvelle. She actually WORKS there Yang!" she said, and Yang blanched at that.

"Friends in high places, huh?" she muttered to Jet, and when he nodded in reply, she shrugged her shoulders. "Wish we could have come."

"I wanted it to be special for my little Rose." Jet replied smoothly "And Nouvelle could only afford to discount us two. I doubt Weiss would have approved of spending that much." he said with a knowing wink.

"Fitting for my Crown Jewel." Ruby said, attempting to imitate Jet's dark and quiet voice. "Valuable, pleasing to the eye and, dare I say it, solid."

Jet and Yang had both been trying to contain their mirth at Ruby's impersonation when, at the mention of solidarity, Yang eyes suddenly flashed red in shock.

"W-what did you say?" Yang asked. Jet looked confusedly at Yang as Ruby repeated, this time in her normal voice, "Solid."

Yang looked from Jet to Ruby, and Jet caught on as her eyes turned slowly to red. "Does that mean what I think it means?" Heart pounding in his throat, realising the imminent misunderstanding, Jet immediately tried to calm Yang down.

"She's talking about my muscles. She's obsessed with them." Jet truthfully said, but he knew Yang was extremely protective of her sister, and if she thought...

"Like hell she is!" she yelled, immediately moving towards Jet. Knowing that he'd only get one chance at escape, Jet immediately stopped time. He'd been intending to disappear completely, but the world regained motion a little early, and Yang spotted his blur as he slowed down time to escape a now fully enraged Yang.

* * *

Bursting out of the dorm buildings, he unfurled his wings, intending to fly up so that he couldn't be reached, but he felt a brutal strength pulling him down, and fell, smashing down to the ground. Rolling around on the dusty pavement, he found himself face to face with Yang.

"Tell me… WHAT DID YOU DO?!" she roared, but before she got a chance to get a hit in, a red shockwave coming from Jet blasted her backwards enough for him to roll away and adopt a combat stance.

"Yang, for all that is dear to both of us, CALM DOWN!" he yelled back. "Ruby made a mistake with her word choice!"

Jet pulled out his classic, Shadow Meteor, and ignited it, the purple flames coalescing at the tip. Yang immediately charged with a shrieking battle cry. Onlookers stopped and stared at the fight about to commence.

Yang immediately threw a right cross, but it was deflected by Jet, who counterattacked by swinging his staff in a loop, aiming for Yang's head. Yang was knocked backwards, but pressed her attack, throwing a flurry of heavy punches, Jet dodging each except for one, which hit him with such force that he smashed into a nearby wall, and both fighters head the cracking of bone along with a scream which could only mean one thing: Jet's wings had been broken.

Infuriated, his own version of Yang's semblance taking effect, he charged, twirling Shadow Meteor, landing hit after hit on the blonde, but this only infuriated the blonde further, and her next punch sent Jet flying into the crowd, landing on his back and causing him to shriek in agony as his broken wings were crushed.

Yang moved in and grabbed his head, punching his face as the onlookers gasped, but she didn't seem to care.

"How dare you do that with Ruby? Who do you think you are?!" she yelled in his face. She felt the red shockwave being charged, but was too slow to stop it from discharging and sending her into the same cracked wall that Jet had broken his wings on. Both combatants rose, and if Jet was furious before, he was ready to kill now.

"You did it, didn't you?!" Yang roared, flames engulfing her, but Jet's aura started to glow a deep, red, and he let out a statement that made every onlooker in the vicinity cower at its malevolence.

"Yang, either you calm down now and listen to me, or I crush you for good!"

"I will make you pay! She's underage you BASTARD!" Yang roared.

"Come forth, embodiment of VENGEANCE!" Jet screamed, and the darkness appeared, so that he was no longer in sight. It then began to fade.

As the darkness diminished, Jet stood in another suit, this one without a helmet. This suit was fully armoured, looking similar to a metal, shining, purple beowolf on its hind legs, but this suit was smaller, more agile than Jet Black Phantom. He now stood taller than Yang, and his claws were elongated into painful looking blades. A tail sprouted from the suit, similar to a death stalker's, and had several dust cannons attached. He wielded a sword that had a black hilt with a purplish silver blade, and there was a glowing orb at the centre of the hilt.

"You'll regret EVER angering me!" Jet's voice rang in Yang's ears as she gazed upon his new form. "Your end in person, Abyssal Chaos Jet!"

With a battle cry of his own, Jet curled up similarly to a boarbatusk, and rolled with lighting speed towards Yang, purple lighting dancing across his armour as blades glinted from every surface. Yang dived out of the way as the ball of death flew at her, and Jet popped out, before firing off several lightning bolts from his tail, which Yang deflected before she charged, winding up another killer punch.

"YANG! JET!" someone cried from the crowd as Jet brought up his sword and met her challenge, going for a long sweep as the brawler came within range. It worked, and the blade connected, sending her flying into the crowd. Jet started to move through them, intent upon finishing her off.

Jet quickly found Yang, who was down, and raised his sword. Yang rolled out of the way and triggered her semblance's final stage, and pummelled him with a punishing blow to the head upon rising to her feet. She didn't get much of a chance to capitalise on Jet's dizziness, as the armoured tail moved and blocked each punch while its owner was dazed.

Distracted as she was with the tail, Yang never saw its owner regain their senses, nor the blade that swept towards her, passing right through her. It was only when the crystal on the sword started glowing a deep red that Yang noticed something wrong. Her semblance suddenly failed, and she felt drained of all her strength. To make matters worse, her feet were frozen to the ground.

Wait, FROZEN? She looked in time to see Weiss and Ruby, the former attempting to do the same to Jet, and succeeding when Ruby used her scythe to bring down Jet's shield against dust based attacks. He was still angry though, and used his tail, attempting to fire more thunderbolts at Yang, but Weiss froze the tail as well.

Ruby ran in-between the two combatants, who were still struggling to move, malevolent intent in both of their eyes.

"Stop fighting!" she cried, looking at Yang, then Jet, then back again. "Flux, I need Jet out here now!" she called upon seeing her lover's dark eyes.

"The hell I won't!" Yang yelled, still struggling with all her might. Jet, on the other hand, stopped struggling, the darkness in his eyes leaving.

"Ruby," he said calmly, "you made her think that we did… that at the Shining Jewel. That's what set our bomb off. But you and Weiss have still left me one way to still attack." Ruby raised her scythe, but Yang suddenly shrieked as a painful spasm in her chest suddenly occurred, when Jet's sword flashed the same colour as the glowing orb within it.

"This is Retrograde Epiphany." he explained, gesturing to the sword. "It doesn't deal physical damage. But if I land but a single hit on anything with an aura, it drains it and replenishes mine." Jet demonstrated by raising the dust shield that Ruby had broken, and continued. "But I can use it to disable semblances, drain strength, or even turn someone's own aura against them. So, Yang," Jet twitched the sword, causing Yang to scream again, "you can either stay angry at me and suffer, or let us discuss this without fighting, and I give you your aura and semblance back."

Yang felt the pain of her aura being drained again. As much as she tried, she couldn't raise her anger, nor could she break from the grip Jet had. Resigning herself, she looked up at Jet with lilac eyes.

"I…" she gasped as another spasm wracked her body. "Jet. I'm calm now. Let me go."

Jet's stinger twitched, but he released Yang, moving next to Ruby as she approached him. Weiss also walked over, but Jet turned to her.

"Weiss, do me a favour and let Blake know what happened. This conversation is only for Ruby, Yang and I. Please." he implored. Without a word, Weiss nodded, and Yang was thankful that she hadn't commented on the fact that it was the third time she'd lost to Jet in a fight.

But she had other problems to address, as Jet put a hand on her shoulder and beckoned for Ruby to take his hand, before he stopped time and allowed the three of them to move to a more private spot. She WOULD find out why Jet had done what he'd done, and why Ruby had agreed to it.

She saw Jet healing his wings using the same water power as he'd used to heal their arms from before.

* * *

Yang, Jet and Ruby were sitting in the library, Jet maintaining the time stop and keeping physical contact with the two sisters to make absolutely sure they weren't overheard.

"…and it sorta went from there in the bath." Ruby finished, and Jet nodded in agreement. She had just told Yang about the events leading up to Jet's massage. Ruby and Yang were both blushing crimson, and Jet was as well, though he was far less red than either of the girls.

"Did you plan this, Jet?" Yang asked, and both girls focussed on him. She felt less angry about the whole thing than before, but still felt ticked that Jet had immediately swooped on Ruby (he DID have wings after all) once they were alone. He took his time before responding.

"The spa part, yes." Jet said, carefully. "What happened next, no. Yang huffed. Part of her annoyance was now because she'd wanted to give Ruby her first proper massage, but now Jet had taken that privilege.

"Was it just that? I swear, if you went-" Yang began, but she was cut off by Ruby.

"No, we didn't." she squeaked, still finding it tough to talk out of embarrassment. Jet pulled her closer to him, and she rested her head on his shoulder, feeling her embarrassment lessen a little. She gazed at Yang with her puppy eyes expression. "You're not going to do anything to Jet, are you?"

Yang knew that her sister was desperate for her and Jet to stay together. Part of her wanted to tease her, but this was serious.

"I'll leave you two alone." she conceded. She felt her eyes turn red as she rounded on Jet. "I'll even let you continue doing this. But I warn you, Jet," she gripped his hand tightly, and felt his resistance flare as she crushed his hand, Ruby shifting away but still holding Jet's hand, "if you hurt her or cause something we'll all regret, you won't survive our next encounter, no matter how powerful you are." she growled forcefully. Jet surprised her by gripping her hand that was crushing it in a vice grip, and saw his eyes turn a bright cyan.

"If it comes to that, you won't have to. As for my statement to you," he hissed, as Yang felt her own hand being crushed, "anyone hurts my rose, I'll be sure to let Flux pay them a visit."

The tension between Yang and Jet was so tangible it could be cut with a knife. Finally, the pair's vice grips ceased, and they both turned to Ruby.

"We're both here to protect you, Ruby." Jet said. "You could say we're your guardian devils."

"That's not even a pun, Jet. Corny." Yang replied, and all three started to smile.

"I know. That's your PUN-isment." Jet laughed, as a groan came from Ruby. Yang felt like she'd been punched in the face. Never, in a million years, had she ever walked into an obvious one like that.

Jet ended the time stop. He was really glad that Izzet had lent him that favor of a one-use unlimited time stop. It made things like this so much easier.


	15. Chapter 15 - Family Ties

After all the tension of the night, Jet, Yang and Ruby started to traipse off back to their dorm room. Jet was relieved that nothing had outright wedged itself between himself and Yang, and more importantly, him and Ruby. She was holding his hand as they passed down the corridor leading to the dorm room, and as they approached, Jet felt Ruby tug gently on his arm.

Turning to look at her, Ruby pointed at her forehead, as Yang pulled ahead. Jet, understanding, opened up the telepathic connection.

"Are you planning to do that with me at some time?" she immediately thought.

"Not for a while yet. What brought that on?" Jet replied.

"Just that Yang was talking about it… so…" Ruby said, awkwardly.

"Ruby, we're both still under 18. Plus, it's not one of the things I'm looking for, you know, sex. Let's leave it at that. Besides, the massage WAS actually planned." Jet replied with a smirk.

* * *

Once the trio reached their dorm room, they discovered Weiss and Blake, who both moved swiftly towards them, intent on finding out what had happened. Yang and Ruby explained while Jet leaped onto the floating bed. He was distracted from their conversation by Flux, who had entered his consciousness.

_"Missed me?"_ she asked, in her calm yet serious voice.

'_As a matter of fact, yes. So you have returned_.' Jet replied internally, as the discussion between Team RWBY continued.

"_I'm surprised. I would have thought my return would have yielded fear from you."_ Flux commented. Jet felt a pang as he heard this.

'_Flux, leave me. The time will come for discourse_.' Jet thought to her.

_"You will fall, fool."_ Flux whispered.

'_You will with me_.' Jet thought, before turning to the discussion in front of him. It had only just ended, and Ruby was already halfway climbing up onto the bed. Yang was still sat in the center of the room.

Leaping down from the bed and earning himself a look of disappointment from Ruby, to which Jet sent a telepathic "I'll be back." to her, before approaching Yang. She looked up at him as he held out his hand.

"Sorry I took that the wrong way." she apologised, before Jet pulled her up to her feet.

"No apologies needed, sis." Jet whispered. "Izzet sent me a message. We need to go to that fountain. You know the one I'm talking about. Just us two."

"Now?" Yang asked.

"Yes." Jet shortly replied.

They said no more, but immediately moved out of the door, Yang trusting Jet to send telepathic messages to their three teammates.

* * *

As they marched across Beacon, Jet not bothering to fly as they were already close to their destination, Yang took the time to think about what Jet had already brought into their lives. He'd certainly not made it boring. All the twists and turns, heck when they had entered his world, there'd been more than one occasion where they were all just hanging on for dear life. She could only hope that Ruby falling in love with him would end well for the couple.

Yang was brought out of her thoughts by the fact that she'd arrived at her destination. There was that fountain of men standing on a rock that was crushing the beast. Yang's attention was brought instead to the figure standing in front of it. It was the same figure that had saved her on the train.

She approached it, and the figure turned, so much so that Yang could now see her. The nevermore mask was the exact same, and her weapon matched.

"Who are you?" Yang asked the figure, but rather than give her a direct response, the woman removed her mask, showing red eyes and black hair, very similar to Yang's in length and style. Her facial features were very similar to Yang's as well.

"Yang, we have a lot to talk about." she finally said. "My name is Raven."

From behind her, Yang heard Jet gasp, and jumped, forgetting that he was still behind her. That moment of surprise was nothing compared to the next, however.

Yang heard the one thing she had least expected to hear from Jet.

"Mother?" Jet asked. Raven nodded, and Jet practically charged her, Raven barely able to remain standing from the force of it, and hugged her. She kept her eyes on Yang, and with a tilt of the head, beckoned her closer.

"This may be hard to believe." she began, and Yang recognised the similarities this woman bore to herself. "I'm your mother too, Yang."

"What?" Both Yang and Jet yelled simultaneously, as Jet let go of Raven. "But that makes us –"

"Brother and Sister, yes." Raven finished, smoothly. Jet turned to Yang.

"That's so ironic. We were calling each other brother and sister as nicknames, right sis?" he said. At this, Raven gave a little chuckle.

"I made such a big mistake leaving your father, Yang." she confessed, "And I know how hard you've been searching for me. But I'm here now."

Yang didn't need any more encouragement. With Jet diving out of the way, Yang and Raven embraced for the first time.

"You know what I'll do in that case, mum." Jet said. "I'll be with my girlfriend tonight, then tomorrow I'll come here. Take all the time you need to catch up with Yang." With that, he spread his wings, and took off. Raven smiled after him as Yang cried into her shoulder, he'd always been the thoughtful one.

Extricating herself from Yang, she guided her daughter to a nearby bench, and sat, face-to-face.

"You're really my mother? No joke?" Yang asked, still in utter disbelief.

"No joke, Yang. How is Tayang? Does he fare well?" Raven asked.

"He… shut down after you left." Yang replied, now looking and feeling down.

"Well, that is unfortunate, but I am glad I was able to meet you and Jet. So, as a mum, I want to know what you've been up to at Beacon. Don't miss out any details!" she said, with a wink.

Yang smiled as she began to recount everything from the moment she'd met Ruby on the airship, to when she'd fought off the Grimm attack on Vale, to when she'd first heard of Jet, to the adventure that was their attempts to find him when he went rogue, to his taking care of Ruby.

Once she was finished, she noticed Raven looking as though she was deep in thought. Coming out of her reverie, she gazed over Yang.

"You really have been through a lot here, and have gotten so much stronger." she simply stated. "And Jet looks to be even more powerful than before we were separated."

"That reminds me." Yang said. "Who was Jet's father?"

Raven closed her eyes as if in pain, and said something too quiet for Yang to hear. She leaned closer, and Raven repeated herself.

"A beowolf alpha."

Yang was shocked. So THAT was why Jet was half Grimm. But wait, if that was the case, then that would mean…

"Listen close, Yang." Raven said in an undertone, while Yang tried to make sense of this new development. "The instances leading to Jet's birth were not pleasant."


	16. Chapter 16 - A Stab in the Dark

"Two years after your birth," Raven explained, "I was poisoned by a jealous hunter, one who only saw greed as his motives to be a hunter. I was left in a forest, nude, and defenceless. That was when that lone beowolf found me. It didn't attack me. I wish it did, but it… did it while I couldn't move. When it left, I managed to drag myself back home, and regain my strength."

"You were raped. By a beowolf." Yang simply said, shocked.

"I only found out I was pregnant again after two months. I had Jet at home. I raised him for six years, before he was adopted by someone, as I was a huntress and had a big job coming. I found out he's becoming a hunter to follow me, just like you are to find me." Raven continued. She covered her face, tears evident in her eyes. "I failed both of you."

Yang sat closer to her and put an arm around her mother's shoulder. "You did," she said, her voice a combination of malice and pity, "But I'm glad Jet and I were able to meet our mother again. I don't even need to hear about why you left. I forgive you, and Jet would too."

"That's right."

Jet had teleported using either his shadows or time stop, and was sat on Raven's other side. She gazed upon him, before he said the words Yang knew would work.

"Yang's right. I know as much as you how difficult it was both times, and I can only hope that we get to spend more time not as comrades in arms, but as a family." he finished, and Yang heard him say telepathically, '_Hug her with me_.' She complied, and the pair embraced their mother, who put their arms around them both.

"We're both here for you now." Yang added. She heard sobs from Raven as she put her arms around the pair of them, and felt a new surge for friendship with Jet, as they now shared a sister-brother bond. It was so ironic. The man Ruby had met and fallen in love with was indirectly related to her. As they broke apart, Jet checked his scroll, and looked up at Yang, who knew exactly what he was going to say.

"I know, little bro." Yang said. "Time to go. We'll see you soon, mom!"

Both Yang and Jet rose, and Jet offered his back. Yang climbed onto it, before Jet stretched his wings, Raven gasping as she saw how much they had actually grown, before he took off. As they flew, Jet soared in no particular direction, doing swoops and flips and no shortage of stomach churning acrobatics. Yang being the passenger, loved every bit of it, until Jet eventually landed, panting, and Yang got off his back.

"That was so FUN!" Yang panted, still getting over the adrenaline rush of the flight. Jet immediately toppled over, and Yang caught him, carrying him back to LIJN's dorm. He smiled sweetly at his sister, reminding her of Ruby.

"Glad you chose Jet Airlines." Jet said weakly, and promptly passed out.

* * *

Yang arrived at Team RWBY's dorm, and ventured inside. Weiss and Blake were both snoozing on their beds, but Ruby was still awake. She raised an eyebrow at her approach, and Yang merely hefted Jet onto their floating bed, before winking at Ruby and leaving her to pull Jet under.

* * *

The morning after, Jet and Yang had immediately woken Ruby and told her about the fact that they were in fact brother and sister, and that Jet was indirectly Ruby's brother as well. Ruby had taken the news well, and was overjoyed for Yang having finally met her mother after searching for so long.

When she had asked Jet about whether it would be weird if they still would be going out, Jet's reply would be remembered for years to come by the two sisters.

"Ruby, if you can fall in love with a hybrid of human and Grimm, I should be able to stay in love with you. Right?"

* * *

Over the course of the following week, Ruby had noticed that Jet seemed to be distracted by something, even during the time they spent together alone, so much so that when she'd asked him something about Midnight Rose (his favourite weapon, or so she thought) he hadn't heard her, and she'd had to kiss him to bring Jet back into reality.

One fine Sunday, eleven days from Christmas, Ruby and Jet were moving from their daily combat practise to get something for lunch in the cafeteria. They passed by their dorm room, and heard pounding coming from the dorm room, which they assumed to be Yang punching her favourite punch bag.

Passing by a nearby broom closet, Ruby chose this moment to strike. Grabbing Jet by the chest and resisting the sudden force that was Jet's red pulse (the name given by her to that close-range shockwave attack) Ruby pushed him inside the empty closet with such force that the door of the closet swung shut behind them. She felt the surge of strength in Jet's muscles at the sudden absence of light.

Ruby pinned Jet against the wall of the closet, still keeping her hand on his chest as she pinned his legs with her own, as his arms moved instinctively to block.

"Ruby, what are you doing?" Jet hissed in fright as he lowered his fists.

"This is my way of making sure we aren't overheard. Why are you always so distracted?" Ruby pressed immediately. "Your reactions are better than that."

"Ruby, if this is about the-" Jet began to argue, but Ruby knew what he was about to say.

"It's not. You just haven't been paying attention so much anymore. Is something bothering you? You can tell me." Ruby whispered reassuringly.

"You didn't need to be so forceful." Jet hissed in response, causing Ruby to grimace in the low light levels.

"Had to get your attention somehow." Ruby muttered as she increased the pressure as Jet started to push her off. After several seconds of resisting, Jet finally submitted to her vice.

"Ruby… you don't have to trap me to get me to open up. Future note." Jet whispered. Ruby didn't smile, she had to get this information one way or another.

"Just tell me what's wrong. There's no secrets between us, remember?" Ruby replied.

Jet sighed. Ruby knew she'd finally cracked the glass.

"Have you ever needed to get stronger quickly, as in mere days, desperately?" Jet asked.

This question puzzled Ruby. She knew Jet talked in riddles sometimes, but mostly when her gem was nervous. She decided to play his game.

"Once. There was a tournament at Signal. Qrow was really working me hard, but I just didn't cut finishing off an opponent. Qrow's way was too difficult, so I came up with something on my own." Ruby explained, smiling finally at the memory.

"Who's Qrow?" Jet asked with mild curiosity.

"Oh, my uncle Qrow. He's the reason I'm here. He trained me." Ruby answered. She felt Jet push past her with a sudden burst from his red pulse.

"We can keep talking." Jet said to Ruby's affronted look. "I've an appointment with Ozpin in five, so let's head down there as we talk. What happened at the tournament?" Jet continued, as they started to make the journey to Ozpin's office, exiting the building.

"I won it, but it ended with my new move. Qrow was really proud." Ruby replied. Jet took her hand as they neared the teacher's offices directly opposite the dorm building.

"Sounds like I have to thank Qrow for training you up so that I could meet you here." Jet commented.

"You have to thank a lot of people if you're going to do that." Ruby said, blushing.

"You're right." Jet stated, then surprised Ruby by crouching on one knee, whilst taking the hand he was holding in both of his. Kissing it lightly, he was watched tentatively by Ruby as she stopped walking. "Thank you for making all the effort to make it here, to Beacon."

"Um… thanks." Ruby awkwardly muttered, before pulling him up to his feet.

"A little too fancy?" Jet asked.

"Just a little." Ruby replied, blushing.

"I would tease you a little," Jet said, grinning, "but look where we are."

Turning, Ruby saw the door of Ozpin's new office. As a teacher, he still owned an office, though it was not as grand as his original office.

"Later, Ruby." Jet bade, before disappearing through the door.

Ruby stood where he'd left her, going over her conversation, trying to figure out what was wrong. She realised with a jolt that Jet had successfully duped her, and she was nowhere nearer to finding out what was wrong.

"Sneaky." Ruby growled, smiling despite herself.

She was going to need Yang's help to crack this nut.


	17. Chapter 17 - Duel

Jet stood in front of Ozpin, who despite lacking the grandeur of his Headmaster status looked just as he always did. Ozpin regarded Jet with a warm smile. These meetings had been scheduled weekly, and they had grown closer over the course of them.

"So what would you like to know this time, professor?" Jet asked. Ozpin had taken to Jet as a rare opportunity to study a union between human and Grimm, and had asked about each of his abilities in turn.

"My study for today comes from a more practical source. We shall go to the Emerald Forest." Ozpin stated, rising from the chair he was seated in, and walked smartly around Jet, retrieving his cane as he did so. Jet followed, and soon both stood atop Sunset Hill, overlooking the forest in the afternoon sun. "Try to keep up." Ozpin remarked, before running with surprising speed towards the snowy forest.

Jet grinned, before unfurling his wings and taking flight, soaring above the trees as he tracked Ozpin's movements.

* * *

Surprisingly, no Grimm disturbed the pair as they reached a clearing, and Ozpin signalled Jet to come down, which he did by cannonballing down and landing in a pile of snow, blasting it outwards and knocking Ozpin down with the impact. He took it in good humour, and allowed himself to be helped up, before regarding Jet with a serious yet amused look.

"Really, Jet, was that necessary?" Ozpin chuckled. Jet dusted himself off, trying to contain his laughter.

"My apologies, sir. The opportunity was too good." Jet replied. "What brings us here?" he continued, looking around. They were in a circular clearing, with thorny bushes circling them. The size was similar to a small coliseum, minus the seats.

"Tell me Jet, why do you think I study you?" Ozpin asked, moving to the opposite side of the clearing.

"Two reasons that I can think of." Jet answered, keeping his eyes on Ozpin. "The first is that you would learn what we need to survive and attempt to live in harmony with us. The second, is that should some prove more… unstable than me, you can learn of our weaknesses, and dispose of those individuals if they become a threat."

"A reasonable answer." Ozpin mused. "As a hunter, it is my duty to defend humanity from external threats. When a potential new candidate enters Beacon, it is my job as a teacher to evaluate that candidate. That is what we are here to do."

"So what am I to fight?" Jet asked, unfurling his wings.

* * *

Ozpin smiled internally as Jet readied himself. The time had come to stretch his own legs. Human and hybrid locked eyes as he gave his response.

"I am to be your opponent." Ozpin responded.

Rather than being intimidated, as Ozpin had thought he would be, Jet instead grinned as a black scythe appeared in his hands. Ozpin immediately noted its similarity to Ruby's weapon, Crescent Rose.

"You are a formidable adversary, if the rumours are true. But so too, am I!" Jet yelled, before immediately charging forward with the laser scythe, glowing with a red aura that Ozpin took to be some sort of close range attack. He was proven correct; as he used his cane to block the scythe, the aura from Jet burst outwards in a blast, nearly catching Ozpin by surprise, though he leaped out of the way just in time.

Ozpin moved close and engaged Jet in a series of sweeping blows. A swing came from Jet that Ozpin blocked, but the counter strike was deflected by the haft of the scythe. The blade then swung from the opposite direction, Ozpin ducking before sweeping at Jet's legs, the boy jumping over it and kicking out at Ozpin, who caught his leg and attempted to slam him into the ground, but Jet used the momentum to twist in the air, both freeing himself and driving Ozpin into the ground.

As Ozpin rose, Jet unleased a brutal uppercut that sent the old teacher flying towards the thorn bushes, and Ozpin counted himself lucky that he stopped short of them. As he stood back up, he realised that he'd underestimated Jet, and how adept he was with his weapon.

Ozpin activated his semblance, and sent three energy bolts at Jet, who was blasted backwards. Ozpin kept up this assault, pushing Jet further and further back until he neared the edge of the makeshift arena. Hurling the last energy bolt needed to send Jet flying, he was surprised when Jet caught it, and turned it purple, before redirecting it at Ozpin, who dived out of the way.

Getting up for the second time, he saw Jet flying up in the air, hovering several meters above the ground, glowing a dark red.

"You're strong, sir. Most fall at this point." Jet remarked. Darkness started to gather around him as Ozpin watched, and he noticed several familiar weapons surrounding him, beginning to orbit the boy.

"What are you doing?" Ozpin asked, conscious of the ominous feeling in his heart as the darkness deepened. He heard the clinking of machinery followed by the CRUNCH of metal hitting snow.

"You could call this a 'super-activation' of my weapons. Jet Black Phantom, ACTIVATE!" Jet roared from the darkness.

The shadows disappeared from Jet with a purple flash. Ozpin suppressed a gasp as he gazed upon dark purple armour and blue lights. Ten icy blue dust crystals floated and hummed in deadly symphony as they hung behind Jet. Ozpin readied his cane as Jet's scythe came into being, larger and stronger, and yet still lithe and deadly. Ozpin read the name Astro Reaper on the weapon.

"Prepare yourself." Jet merely stated, before all ten of the crystals pointed at him and fired frozen rings of energy at him. Ozpin skilfully pirouetted and evaded the relentless barrage of ice blasts, the practical blizzard coming thick and fast. Amidst the relentless shots from the crystals, Jet swung his scythe, sending linear energy waves at the beleaguered professor. It was all he could do to not to get hit.

Evading projectiles left and right, Ozpin raised his cane, projecting a spherical shield around himself, which absorbed every attack. Jet ceased firing after several seconds of this, and closed the distance with shocking speed, Astro Reaper blazing a deadly trail as it sped towards its target. Shattering through the shield, Jet plunged the scythe into the snow where Ozpin was a moment previously.

Ozpin took the opportunity to attack, giving Jet a crack around the head with his cane and stunning him. Taking the advantage, he whirled in a circle before slamming into Jet, sending him up into the air. Ozpin leapt up into the air and was about to swing downwards, but Jet unleashed another red shockwave from the core of his suit, flinging Ozpin into the trees, the old professor vanishing from sight.

* * *

Staring into the mass of branches and leaves that Ozpin had vanished into, Jet wondered whether he had been too hard on Ozpin. There again, he had expected a harder fight. He lowered his scythe and the suit vanished.

That was a big mistake.

Ozpin came flying out of the bushes causing Jet to shriek in surprise. With a swift strike, Ozpin brought Jet low onto a knee, and soon thereafter Jet felt the touch of the cold, steel handle of the cane at his throat.

"First rule of combat here at Beacon, Jet. What was it?" Ozpin asked, sternly.

"Never let your guard down. Well fought, sir." Jet muttered as he took a hand Ozpin had out and hauled himself to his feet. Crouching, he offered Ozpin his back. "Shall I fly us out?" he asked.

"Certainly, if it would not be too much trouble, but please keep the acrobatics you perform with Miss Rose to a minimum." Ozpin replied, climbing onto Jet's back. Spreading his wings, Jet took flight, and soared above the sea of white and green that was the Emerald Forest. It was a smooth flight back to Beacon, and it was not Ozpin's first ride on his back.

* * *

Jet landed outside the door to Ozpin's office, and folded his wings as the professor clambered off of his back. He grinned as Ozpin patted him on the back, an unusually warm gesture given what had recently transpired.

"You are dismissed. One thing I neglected to mention." Ozpin called out to Jet as he turned. "Please do not take Master Arc for a flight. As I understand, he has a fear of heights. Something to note."

"Acknowledged." Jet responded, before making his way back to team RWBY's dorm room. The duel with Ozpin and the subsequent flight had drained him of energy. He would rest his body in his daily nap with Ruby, he reasoned.

* * *

Upon reaching the dorm room, he was surprised to find it empty. Not even Ruby was present. Frowning, he closed the curtains to darken the room and recharge his aura, before changing into a simple t-shirt and trousers, clambering into the floating bed and falling asleep. He resolved that perhaps Ruby was busy, and that was fine.

He wasn't prepared for what was going to happen next.


	18. Chapter 18 - Night Terror

Blood. Blood everywhere. So much of it.

Jet sat on a macabre parody of his bed which was icy to the touch. He stared at a room that was full of blood. Blood cascaded like waterfalls from the four corners of the room into bottomless pits lined with skulls on pikes. The walls were spattered with crimson mockeries of decoration, and some of these reached the ceiling. The stone tiled floor bore blood too, large puddles that seemed deceivingly shallow.

A lesser individual would have instantly lost his stomach as the sight, but Jet was able to contain his nausea. He was distracted by Flux, who had leapt up onto his bed, her wings and claws were larger now, her eyes more vicious, gleaming in the gloom.

Jet did not hesitate. Flux was the cause of these nightmares. He immediately rose and knocked her off the bed, coming down with her onto the crimson slick floor. Flux growled as she rose, and Jet was surprised when she didn't immediately fight back. Taking the initiative, he tackled her, bringing Flux down with his hands around her throat.

"That's… right." Flux choked. "You… hate me… so much… don't you?" she wheezed.

Their eyes locked, and Jet squeezed all the harder, determined to end this before the nightmare developed.

"Just… DIE!" Jet roared, maintaining his choking hold.

A heavy blow came from out of nowhere, causing Jet to release his hold slightly.

"WAKE UP!" a nearby voice called.

* * *

With a white flash, the dream world vanished. It took several seconds for his eyes to clear enough to see. He was crouched in Team RWBY's dorm room as he was in the dream. Yang was crumpled in a corner of the room, and above her were… _cracks in it?_ He also noticed that he was crouched over a body, with his hands around its throat. He turned to look.

Ruby Rose looked back at him, her eyes filled with nothing but silent terror.

He still held her, though he was not applying pressure, so she could breathe. Red marks adorned her skin where she'd been strangled. She continued to gaze upon him in fear.

Jet released Ruby, and crumpled, falling beside her as she gasped. It was only moment later when he realised that she was wheezing for air, having probably been deprived of it. Two swords pointed at Jet from above, and with a pang, he realised that Weiss and Blake held the two swords.

"Are you lucid?" Blake asked, with no trace of kindness or subtlety.

"Yes." Jet whimpered, and surprised both himself and the two girls with the fear in his voice.

"How many fingers?" Weiss asked, holding up her hand.

"Two if you count the thumb, one if you don't." Jet answered, steadying his breathing and his voice, and sat up, brushing away the two swords pointed at him. Yang joined them, and Ruby sat up too.

"What happened?" Jet asked.

"You attacked Ruby when she tried to wake you." Blake answered.

* * *

Two minutes ago

Ruby and her team ventured into their dorm room, with her plan set in motion. In order to get Jet to open up, she'd enlisted the help of her whole team. She clambered up into bed intending to wake him up with a kiss. Normally, Jet kept a straight sleeping posture, though today he was curled up, and shuddering. Ruby shook him.

"Come on, sleepy." Ruby whispered soothingly.

Jet reacted instantly. His eyes mere slits, Jet instantly got up and attacked with a kick, catching Ruby by surprise as she fell of the bed and landed with a painful crash. Dazed, she barely registered the voices of her teammates.

"Ruby!" "Are you ok?" "Look out!"

Jet leapt down from the bed as she tried to stand back up, her vision clearing. Jet was still asleep? How? Her thoughts distracting her, she was unprepared for when Jet tackled her to the ground and locked his arms around her throat.

"J-Jet! I don't… understand!" Ruby choked as Jet immediately increased the strength of his grip.

"Just… DIE!" Jet roared in his sleep. Ruby was terrified now, sure that she was going to meet her end.

All three of her teammates ran forward, and Yang slammed a fist down onto Jet's head. Almost immediately afterwards, the red pulse triggered, sending all three girls flying into the walls, and Jet's vice loosened slightly.

Ruby was beginning to lose consciousness from the lack of oxygen, and struggled with all her might to break free.

"JET! WAKE UP!" Weiss yelled as she and Blake recovered in time to run at Jet again.

The pressure on Ruby's throat released enough for her to breathe, and she gasped for air. Jet's eyes opened.

* * *

Jet held his head in his hands as he came to terms with what had happened.

"Ruby, I'm not asking you to forgive me." Jet stated, looking up, but Ruby held up her hand.

"It must have been a really bad nightmare, right? It's not your fault." Ruby said, embracing Jet as he sat down on the floor which only moments ago had been flooded with blood.

"I don't suppose you feel like talking about it?" Blake asked.

"I…" Jet took a deep breath. "It's my connection to Flux. It sometimes causes these nightmares where we turn on one-another. The only way to end the nightmare is to either get woken by someone else, or kill Flux in the dream."

Ruby was deep in thought. Flux must have taken her place in Jet's dream and he was trying to kill her with such ferocity, but in reality, Ruby was the one being choked.

"Has this happened before?" Blake asked.

"Since the prison." Jet responded. "Flux separated herself from me somehow. She's nowhere near us though. I still get the nightmares."

As the silence that met his words stretched on, Jet rose, detaching Ruby from him.

"Leave me be for a little." Jet quietly requested, before leaving the room. As he did, Ruby glanced around at her team.

"Follow him sis." Yang reassured her. "You can do it."

"Thanks." Ruby said, before racing out of the door.

Outside in the snowy grounds, Jet took flight, Ruby watching him from a distance. Hovering in place, Jet surrounded himself in darkness.

Ruby knew this meant he was gaining armour. When the darkness left, Jet sported armour on his wings, which covered them entirely, akin to the wings of an aeroplane, though lacking turbines. Two engines protruded from the back as Jet's suit came into view. This third suit was similar to Jet Black Phantom in colour scheme, but the rigid and pointed armour with helmet meant this suit was built with aerodynamics in mind.

Energy gathered around the engines before Jet flew away from Beacon as nothing more than purple light. Ruby triggered her semblance and gave pursuit.


	19. Chapter 19 - Deus

Ruby felt like she was traveling for miles. She kept her eyes on the soaring figure of Jet. He was headed for a castle in the distance of the snowy field. Ruby had no idea how far they'd travelled.

She was taken out of her thoughts by Jet, who had landed in the courtyard of the castle. Giving pursuit, Ruby sped up a staircase within the castle and hid within a parapet, only just now catching her breath.

Jet stood in the castle courtyard. He knew where this was. He'd been here before.

"Who enters?" a dull and gravely voice sounded from the dark pit that was in the center of the stony ground.

"I am Jet, a half human, half Grimm hybrid." Jet called.

"Only those who know our true name may discourse with us. Speak now, or die." the voice sounded.

Ruby prepared to jump from her hiding place to aid Jet. She had no idea what this place was, but if her lover was in danger, she'd save him. She was halted by Jet's response.

* * *

"Deus! Come forth!" Jet named the voice.

There was a sharp intake of breath at his words. Then, the very air of the castle seemed to darken as the creature emerged from the pit. It was unlike anything Ruby had ever seen before. A wizened and giant torso with gleaming red eyes emerged, with withered arms that were as long as she was tall. Tentacles begun to emerge from every direction from within the dark pit.

The Grimm gazed upon Jet, seemingly unaware of Ruby's presence. It was the source of the voice.

"Greetings… Angel." it growled.

"Deus. I assume you know why I am here." Jet sad, maintaining his composure at the sight of the ancient Grimm.

"You wish for the power that is your inheritance, correct?" Deus slowly intoned.

"Power? I was only made aware of your existence should I require aid." Jet answered in surprise.

"Then you are most definitely not ready to receive it. Come back when you are… knowledgeable, and your Fulcrum is present." the Grimm replied, before starting to retreat back into the pit.

Jet stood there briefly, as though deep in thought, before leaping up into the air and summoning the flight armour again. Ruby watched him shoot off, before following him. If she was determined to find out what the problem was now, she was now fully obsessed with the job.

* * *

Jet flew across the snowy-bound blur that was the ground below him. His last suit of Dharc Armour, Burning Jet Venom, was his speed based armour. Put simply, it was like a humanoid version of Bumblebee on steroids. Even so, there was only one thing that he knew could even outmatch his manifestation.

Ruby. He thought about all the changes she'd brought into his life. From the very moment they were together, they'd endured all sorts together, fought, and loved in equal measure. He regretted keeping her in the dark about this, but it was for her own good. He wouldn't make the same mistakes he'd made last time.

Without warning, something latched onto his left wing, hooking him downwards. Something heavy, pulling him to the ground. Jet immediately disengaged his suit and landed, planting his feet in the snowy ground. He watched the figure opposite him skid to a halt, and noticed the familiar rose petals. Groaning in disbelief, he watched as Ruby Rose stared him down, Crescent Rose aloft.

"Jet." she said, angrily. "You're either going to TELL me what is going on, or I'll force the truth out of you!"

This was bad. Jet never wanted to turn his weapon on his girlfriend ever again in a serious fight. But what he was protecting was too precious. If Ruby went down this path, she would fall with him. He would die upon her scythe before he let that happen!

* * *

"Ruby, this is one of the few times when I have a good reason to push you away!" Jet yelled back, readying Midnight Rose. "Be it by blade or spell, you will NOT follow me down this path!"

"Oh, like that's a big surprise!" Ruby retorted, blushing furiously now. "You always keep hiding from me! Always when it's important, you insist that I 'leave you alone'. Well guess what? As you are one of the most important people in my life, I will not!"

"Then, I am sorry! But I will use my true power to stop you before it's too late!" Jet roared.

"Too late for what?" Ruby yelled the question.

The answer never came.

Jet immediately zipped from his spot towards her, black rose petals flying behind him as he engulfed himself in blue flames. Ruby swivelled around the charging meteorite, and cracked him in the back with the blunt end of her scythe. Rather than faze him, Jet's flames exploded outwards in a burst of brilliant light, blasting Ruby off her feet and causing her to land in a bush. Rising, she saw Jet outstretching his palm, an icy aura surrounding it. Ruby dived out of the way as a bright blue laser blasted outwards, the size of it similar to the size of a football, and froze the bush where Ruby was a moment ago.

Sweeping the laser in an attempt to hit Ruby, who dived and ducked under and over it, he followed by punching the ground, shaking it and causing her to topple. Luckily, he'd stopped firing his freeze-ray, but rather than stop, he fired again, once again barely missing Ruby, who dodged before closing with Jet at her highest speed, colliding with his aura and smashing straight through it, the familiar flash which meant it had been broken. A spatter of blood had also been drawn.

Skidding and leaving two divots in the snow behind her, she watched as Jet turned and poured some kind of blue substance emanating from his palm over the deep gash in his other arm. Realizing that he was healing himself, she charged again, but before she could make contact, two Jets blocked and repelled her! Realising that they were shadow clones, Ruby hacked and slashed at the two apparitions, desperate to get to the real one before he healed completely.

Plunging her scythe blade into one of them and being rewarded with the disintegration into darkness that was the clone's demise, she sped past the other one and straight to the real Jet. He had succeeded in healing himself completely, however, and absorbed the other clone before teleporting away.

Spinning on the spot to find him, Ruby finally sighted him roughly 20 meters away. He was drawing a complex glyph in mid-air. He started to glow with blue light and chanting could be heard.

"By the blessed power of Asmo, end this fight now!" Jet yelled, as his wings extended and the light grew to a harsh beam. "Cyclone Blizzard!"

The glyph exploded, and Jet began to spin on the spot himself, like a top, but ice shards, snow, and grass was swept up in the building tornado. Ruby watched as it grew larger and larger before, with a scream from Jet, it exploded outwards like his flames had done before. She had no way to escape the fierce gust that lifted her up into the air before slamming her into the ground. She was visibly winded as Jet approached her.

* * *

Ruby felt her aura, which lay in pieces from the last hit she had taken. That was not a normal semblance, she realized, as she watched helplessly as Jet pinned her arms with Midnight Rose, the touch of cold steel alone sending quivers of fear up her spine even as he raised an icy fist. Jet looked just as furious as when Yang had accused him of taking her virginity.

"Either we do this your way, and I freeze you before taking you back," Jet growled, no trace of pity for her, "or you submit, and I tell you what I can tell you." Ruby looked at Jet, trying desperately to discern whether his voice had changed at all or not, and whether he or Flux was the one in control. It was so hard to tell these days.

"O… ok, Jet." Ruby said after a brief pause, relaxing her muscles and tilting her head back as a sign of defeat. Jet immediately released her, and with an outstretched hand, was hauled to her feet.

* * *

Jet was glad Ruby submitted. He never wanted to do that ever again. Raising his full powers against Ruby took a tremendous amount of willpower to maintain his abilities. Tears threatened to reach his eyes even as he gazed upon her. Ruby had her arms crossed, and was watching Jet with a serious expression. She looked as if she was three years older in that moment.

"You told me you would tell me what you could tell me. As someone would say, 'out with it'." Ruby demanded, not ceasing her glare. Jet's heart sunk, realising that some of the truth would be coming out.

"Ruby…" Jet said, before he paused. "We have a new enemy besides the White Fang."

"Who?" Ruby immediately pressed.


	20. Chapter 20 - Gods and Grudges

"Ruby…" Jet said, before he paused. "We have a new enemy besides the White Fang."

"Who?" Ruby immediately pressed.

"Flux." Jet simply replied. As he said it, a familiar dark feeling spread throughout his body. The one that was always elicited by that name.

"Flux? I thought she was a part of you." Ruby said, looking confused. Jet sighed, holding his head in his hands.

"She was. But she escaped from my body into a Grimm, a Beowolf. I tried to kill it, but she got away." Jet explained. He remembered his frustration at not being able to end the threat before it grew into what it would become. "So I sought power, but not the kind of power that comes from training, Ruby. Tell me, have you ever heard of a deity called Asmodeus?"

"Asmo- what?" Ruby asked, still looking confused.

* * *

Ozpin grimaced as soon as he heard that name.

He sat at his desk alone. A small radio sat on his desk along with an assortment of paperwork, data scrolls and pens all neatly organised aside his mug of tea. The radio itself was linked to a bug he'd attached secretly to Ruby's cloak. He felt no remorse at the invasion of privacy, as he had to learn as much as possible about the hybrid he'd taken into his academy.

He knew about the legend of Asmodeus.

* * *

"Asmodeus." Jet answered.

"He is the god of this world. Before the creation of Remnant, he was the single being that existed as a bubble of order within the chaos of nothingness. But even he could not remain in that state forever. Asmodeus split into two separate half-gods, Asmo and Deus, and through the energy released from their separation, Remnant was born.

However, where Asmodeus was a perfect balance between good and evil, Asmo and Deus are complete opposites, light and dark locked in eternal battle. But they cannot harm each-other directly. So, they birthed the progenitors of their soldiers. The children of Asmo are you, the humans and the Faunus. The children of Deus, they are the Grimm."

"So Flux will go to Deus to gain power." Ruby spoke slowly. "But what about you? You're a human, right?" she asked, looking fully into his eyes now.

"I'm not." Jet replied, holding her gaze. "I fall into a third, rare category; the children of Asmodeus, someone who is a hybrid of Human and Grimm, better known as a Chaos Angel. As one who has the best of both worlds, I am one of the most powerful creatures here. But the problem is, so is Flux, having originated from me. She wants to let Deus win, to overrun humanity.

But I can stop her. There is a legend that states that the four powers of Asmo can stop someone like her. That is why I have been travelling a lot lately, to try and find the semblances."

* * *

Ozpin turned off the recording radio at this point. Finally, the code was cracked. He'd always known that Jet had some sort of mission, it was a matter of figuring it out.

* * *

As Jet finished, Ruby finally lowered her gaze. He watched as Ruby mulled it over, before troubling signs began to show. Her soft little hands were curling into fists, and she was emitting that growl again, the one that basically said 'Here comes a true sister of Yang' to Jet. She looked up, and the anger combined with the glare she gave was startling.

"You were doing something THIS important," she said slowly, her voice rising, "and didn't tell me ANYTHING AT ALL?!" she yelled the last part.

"Ruby, calm do-" Jet tried to say, doing his utmost to remain calm, but Ruby cut him off.

"I could have helped you! I- I could h-h-have…" Ruby tried to keep yelling but she burst into tears.

"Ruby, I just wanted to keep you safe!" Jet called, but Ruby was already starting to lope away, despite the fact that she was still in unknown territory.

"Just… just stay away from me." Ruby said, her voice crackly.

"Let me take you back, at least!" Jet yelled over the building distance between them, starting to summon his flight armour.

"I WILL FIND MY OWN WAY BACK!" Ruby practically deafened Jet with that shout, before disappearing and leaving nothing behind but a single rose petal.

Jet said nothing else, but completed his armour cycle before leaping into the air and resuming his journey back to Beacon. Inside himself, however, it felt like buzz saws were dancing the conga inside him while spinning faster than Ruby could run.

She was too trusting, too open with her secrets, and expected him to be the same. Jet knew in his heart that there was more to the story than just Asmodeus, and that part hurt him even more. But he also knew about the way he had to put distance between him and his companions.

Maybe it was for the best that Ruby dumped him.

"I wasn't worth it in the first place." Jet said to himself as he found the familiar outline of the Emerald Forest in the distance.

* * *

Izzet stared Lilac down in their hotel room, both holding gazes of intense concentration. Both pairs of eyes snapped to a card, one with a blue patterned symbol with a red gem in the center.

Nouvelle, at speeds comparable to Jet and Ruby, flicks a card at the table in-between them. It flips face-up, revealing a purple symbol and a green gem. Two hands flash towards the buttons at their owners' sides. Izzet thanked the stars above that she was a millisecond faster.

After a groan from Lilac, she checked her hand of five attack cards and showed one to Lilac. Four holographic fireballs, all rainbow coloured, flew from the card towards Lilac, who grunted in suppressed pain, and her HP went down from 28% to 13%, as indicated by the counter in front of her. Izzet's own HP was at 7%.

"My defence from the card I played earlier reduces that 30 damage attack by half." Lilac explained as she began to grin.

'_Think you've won, have you_?' Izzet thought to her, before drawing another attack card from a deck that Nouvelle handed to her with a smile, as if she'd heard Izzet's thought.

The next round of the game was interrupted by a series of lights shining through their minds. Jet was calling them. With a nod to her team, the three closed their eyes, and vanished from the hotel room in a series of flashing lights. Opening her eyes, she found herself in the dorm room, facing towards the door.

"Jet!" Nouvelle greeted from out of sight. "I was just 'aving a blast with zeeze… Jet?"

Now Izzet turned around, and saw a defeated looking Jet, with red eyes and swollen muscles. His wings were also limp by his side. This was probably the first time she'd ever seen Jet so… well, feeble.

'_Bed. Now_.' Izzet commanded, rushing to Jet's side and putting his arm around her. With Lilac's help, she put Jet onto his floating bed, and sat on it with him as it began to rise.

"Get to work on him Doc." Lilac said, now lacking her competitive tone from earlier. Izzet nodded, and focussed her telepathy on Jet.

'_Jet? Can you hear me_?' she asked. Jet gave a tight nod. '_Think something back to me. What's wrong?_' she continued.

_'I made a huge mistake. With Ruby. Now, she's probably-'_ Jet returned, but Izzet cut the connection and instead embraced him as he started to cry. Lilac and Nouvelle got the hint, and dissapeared, allowing her to comfort him alone.

* * *

Almost as if they were in a parallel universe, Ruby sat on her floating bunk with Blake and Yang, in almost exactly the same position. Ruby had just finished explaining what had happened when she'd encountered Jet, and was now crying into Blake's shoulder. She'd regretted leaving almost instantly after Jet had gone, but she couldn't take it back.

She didn't notice Yang leaving her bunk, nor the muttered conversation between her and Weiss, followed by the door opening and closing. All she felt like doing was submerging herself in sorrow, which wasn't difficult.

Yang knew what she had to do. So did Weiss. Jet had broken his promise to both of them. He'd broken Weiss' by causing even more distractions than before, and Yang's by hurting Ruby as he'd done the instant she'd found out (at least a part of) the truth.

Now both had a common goal: Give Jet a piece of their minds.

They were so focussed on their goal that they practically ran into the door that stood between them and Team LIJN's dorm room. Upon opening it, they found Izzet, who was sat atop Jet's bed, cuddling him. He looked more worse for wear than Weiss first expected. That didn't matter now. Lilac an Nouvelle were nowhere to be seen.

"We want to have a chat with Jet." Weiss told Izzet, who had looked up. She saw, probably for the first time, the silver haired girl scowl.

_'Leave. Now!'_ she yelled from within Weiss mind, and she clutched her head. The volume was piercing.

"No chance." Yang said, crossing her arms.

_'I WILL summon my team. Tell me, do you really want to face three of us?'_ Izzet warned.

"Bring it." Once again Yang spoke before Weiss had a chance. Raising a hand, Izzet shone a series of coloured lights from her palm. Nouvelle and Lilac appeared from thin air beside her teammate, facing towards her. Neither looked happy. It seemed as though they knew that their leader was in danger.

"Who dares threaten Jet?" Lilac asked theatrically, before Izzet pointed directly at Weiss and Yang.

Weiss heard the 'cha-ching' that meant Yang's weapons were out. Conflict was inevitable, it seemed.

Izzet leaned towards Jet and appeared to be whispering to him, even though her mouth didn't move. Jet looked up, and Weiss saw the tell-tale puffy eyes and rosy cheeks of someone that had been crying almost as hard as their leader. He took a deep breath.

"Ruby pushed me a little too far. Pushed me to reveal a truth that would only bring more pain and sorrow. We fought, and I was forced to use my full powers." Jet explained tearfully. "I told her what I could, but my honesty came too late. Now here you two stand."

"Lilac, stay with 'im." Nouvelle commanded, before she and Izzet leapt from the bed. "You 'ave heard ze story from our side. You can leave, but you must get through us first if you want to hurt Jet."

_'Our allegiance is with our team, and our leader! Back off, or suffer our wrath!'_ Izzet hissed.

Weiss decided that it was better to leave now while they had the chance, and Yang seemed cowed by the fury displayed by the duo that stood between them and their target. This was furthered by their weapons, which had been drawn.

Before either party could move, or speak, there was a shattering sound. Jet had vanished from Lilac's side, and the smashed window didn't leave many mysteries as to how he had disappeared.

* * *

Ruby sat in the same park that she'd once hidden in, eavesdropping on a conversation between Jet and Yang. She sat on the same bench, in fact, that they'd been sitting on at the time. Ruby stared sadly out towards the dipping sunset, reminiscing about her time with him, and trying desperately to erase him from her memories. It wasn't working.

"Hey! Red!" a voice called out, and Ruby slowly looked to her left. It was Cardin, one of the bullies at Beacon. She gazed around and saw the rest of team CRDL, surrounding her, denying her escape. It was surprising that they were coming to her, as she has both a badass sister and a terrifyingly powerful boyfriend to protect her.

'I _had_ the boyfriend.' an unpleasant voice in Ruby's head remarked, but she ignored it, focussing on the bullies in front of her. She cursed inwardly as she reached behind her back, only to find Crescent Rose was not there. With the men surrounding her, she was defenceless.

"Where's lover boy and strong sis'? They aren't here?" Cardin asked, roughly pulling her head up so that she locked eyes with the brute. Ruby didn't glorify him with a response, instead treating him to what she hoped was a withering snarl.

"Let's cut to the chase, Red." Cardin grunted as he held out his hand. "All of your lien. To me. Right now."

Ruby felt a harsh tug on her hair, and let out a sharp screech of pain.

Someone…

Anyone…

Her call was swiftly answered.

A dark streak, engulfed in bluish flames, barrelled from out of nowhere into the entire group. Ruby felt herself snatched in someone's arms. It took her a moment, after realising that she was on the ground, and not in the air, for her to notice that Cardin had grabbed her! She struggled against the beefy arms that held her, but it was no good.

Keeping her arms painfully twisted behind her back, Cardin spun with her to face a still flaming and fully enraged Jet, whose flames glowed a cold, dark blue in the darkness. He took two steps towards the gang that held her, and felt Cardin move a heavily muscled arm to her throat.

"Put her down. NOW." Jet hissed as his flames glowed brightly, flaring up as if to warn the bullies about his building levels of rage. If they were trying, they did a very poor job.

"You get any closer and I hurt your girl even more." Cardin warned as his cronies started to approach Jet. Ruby realised that Cardin didn't know about the many semblances that Jet had at his disposal. He was in for a nasty surprise, as Jet vanished from the spot. Ruby immediately turned her head to the right, and saw Jet winding up a very Yang-like punch. Cardin saw him only a split second later.

"Wrong choice." Jet stated, before nailing Cardin right in the face. Ruby felt herself hit the ground as her captor went flying from the force of the punch. Ruby looked up from the ground as Jet stared down Russel, Dove and Sky, all of whom drew their weapons. She saw Jet from behind as, still flaming blue, he slowly unfolded Midnight Rose and unfurled his wings, the flames growing brighter and hotter as his weapon finally transformed into scythe form with a resounding click, and his wings extended to their fullest.

He quite literally looked like an angel of death to Ruby, and she was _behind_ him. She shuddered at the thought of what he looked like at the front.


	21. Chapter 21 - Eternal Conflict

Ruby struggled to get up as she saw Cardin rising behind his team, but after looking down, she realised that she was held by a dark glyph. Resigning herself to the side lines, she barely heard Cardin's battle cry before all four charged Jet.

Jet immediately whirled around in circles, forming the tornado that Ruby had seen him use against her, creating a swirling blue maelstrom of flames, before he started to move towards CRDL. Seeing this, Cardin fired an explosive blast from his mace as his cronies switched to their ranged forms of their weapons, but the explosion was absorbed by the flames to little effect.

A moment later, Jet stopped spinning and sent the flame tornado straight at Cardin, all the fire leaving him. It swept him and Sky straight up into the air, scorching them on the way down as the winds dispersed. Bullets came flying from Sky and Russell's weapons as they discharged their payload at their intended target, and Ruby saw Jet's aura flicker darkly as it deflected each round with a red flare of energy.

He ran towards the assailants, and darkness flickered around him as Abyssal Chaos Jet formed around his legs and arms, chest and shoulders, with the tail being constructed autonomously a moment later. He fired a burst of purple projectiles as he curled up into the spike wrecking ball, narrowly missing the boys, but caused them to duck, giving Jet enough time to ram into Russell, who was sent flying by the impact like their leader had been.

Jet immediately popped out of his ball form and sent two more needles from his tail at Dove, who raised his sword to block. But Jet was already moving, swinging his tail and smashing apart Sky's waning aura with a single blow. The boys were backing up now, a combination of Jet's rage and his combat prowess providing fuel to their fear. That is, until their leader charged.

Cardin swung his mace with full force straight at Jet's head, the latter using his tail and aura defence to shield himself. It was a big mistake.

Carding's unparalleled strength blasted through the aura and shattered the tail, continuing through and smashing Jet straight on the forehead. There was a deafening 'CRACK' as a black wave of energy blasted from Jet, sending Ruby flying despite the distance she was away from him. She sat up and found Jet on his knees, the armour dissipating into shadows, clearly stunned by the blow.

The four victorious bullies advanced on Jet now, weapons raised, having gotten up from the knock-down blow that was that dark blast.

"Had enough?" Cardin jeered as his cronies laughed and taunted. To Ruby's surprise, Jet rose to his feet, and locked eyes with his opponent. Ruby noticed that the shadows around Jet were coalescing again, and she had a feeling she knew what was coming.

"Not yet." Jet grunted as he stood tall, the shadows forming around himself. This was it. Ruby knew now.

The darkness dissipated, and Ruby recognised the suit at once. Jet gazed at Cardin from inside Jet Black Phantom, and the crystals floating behind him pointed their tips threateningly at the entirety of Team CRDL as he hovered ever-so-slightly above the ground. Ruby recognised Astro Reaper, the deadly evolution of Midnight Rose, which gleamed in the crystals' light.

Without warning, the crystals assuming a rotating pattern and glowing yellow, Jet opened portals underneath all four of his opponents, and sent them a good 100 metres away from them. The crystals then turned to icy blue and they fired dozens upon dozens of ice shards in a hailstorm of frozen projectiles. The four boys dived for cover as shard upon shard of ice was catapulted towards them.

"No hiding!" Jet yelled, before slashing Astro Reaper in front of him, creating a thin wave of force that exploded outwards and sliced through the bushes and benches alike, blasting Dove, Sky and Russell out and shattering their auras. Cardin, however, resisted the impact, and began to run at Jet, who was still a fair distance away.

Jet responded by firing the ice shards, the crystals flaring into life as they sent icy projectiles in great numbers at Cardin, but he merely flared up his mace and created a shield of fire in front of him, destroying each projectile as he closed with Jet, who flew at him, giving every sign that he was charging his red pulse.

The two combatants smashed into one another, and a great blast of flame and red energy sent both sailing backwards through the air, Cardin landing flat on his back, and Jet spinning backwards through the air as he righted himself, coming to a stop several metres off the ground. Cardin instantly leapt to his feet and fired another explosive blast.

Jet dropped to the ground to avoid it, but Cardin dashed towards him and swung his mace in a wide, quick, arc. Jet was knocked out of his armour again as he was sent flying backwards, the suit itself disintegrating back into the darkness.

Jet knelt on one knee as Cardin approached him. He wore a defeated expression. His legs were slackened, and he looked as though his strength had deserted him. Ruby watched as he was grabbed and held up by his shirt, such that his feet were off the ground.

"Lots of tricks. But still…" Cardin said, before slamming Jet into the ground, and Ruby saw the dark purple flash that signalled his aura finally collapsing, "…weak."

He turned towards Ruby, and she finally felt pure fear, but it was a terror that gnawed at both her heart and her mind. Was Jet ok?

She was distracted from her thoughts and Cardin's grinning face by a short, coarse laugh, and she realised that Jet was the one laughing. Evidently Cardin noticed, because he wheeled around.

"What's so funny?" Cardin asked, stomping towards him. Jet coughed, before turning his gaze from the overcast skies above to his snarling face. Ruby saw his grin.

"Spare a moment to look behind you, sir." Jet requested, and both Cardin and Ruby did as they were bade, and saw a very furious Goodwitch behind a concerned Ozpin, both of whom regarded Cardin with piercing expressions.

"But, how?" Cardin grunted in confusion. As Ruby looked from the teachers to Cardin in an equal state of confusion, she noticed Izzet appear out of the corner of her eye. The short girl walked over to Jet, who nodded, and understood.

Izzet must have been working behind the scenes while the fight was occurring, making sure Cardin was the one to blame, and that the teachers were there to see it happen. But how did she know Jet was in trouble?

This, and a thousand other questions swirled around Ruby's head, tuning out Goodwitch and Ozpin, blurring Izzet as she healed Jet with a red light, and even as they then approached her. Ruby shook her head to clear it, then gazed up with re-focussed eyes at Jet.

_'Come with us.'_ Izzet's telepathy sounded from the back of her head as the girl herself held out a hand, grasping Jet's hand with her other. Ruby complied with her silent request, and vanished.

* * *

Izzet deposited her two passengers in a small field that stood between Sunset Hill and the Emerald Forest. With a nod in response to Ruby's "thank you", she vanished, leaving the two alone. Jet averted his gaze almost immediately, almost as if he _didn't_ want to look at her. It was very awkward as it was.

"So…" Ruby tried to begin, desperate to break this awkwardness, "are you ok?"

"Physically, yes." Jet commented, still not meeting her eyes, but playing with a small piece of grass in his fingers. "Izzet healed my body, but I'm being torn apart inside. What happened back in the field," he closed his eyes as if in pain, "I don't ever want to bring my full power to bear on you like that ever again, but you need to be aware that I have grey areas that MUST remain grey where anyone is concerned."

"I need to know what you're trying to do though." Ruby said, and remembered what Blake had gone through. "I need to know if there's anything I can do to help."

Jet paused for a moment, as if he was mulling over his words, while Ruby waited with baited breath. Finally, he spoke.

"You've no idea how much I want to confess my mission to you, every single detail. But I can't, because of two promises; the first to a being beyond time and space, and the second to myself."

Ruby waited, as if engaging in a silent staring contest, not taking her eyes off him. He seemed to almost shrink under her gaze, and continued.

"But I'm not blind. I know this secrecy is driving a rift between us. So," he said, as he lay back, using his arms to support his weight, "ask me, and I'll see what I can give you."


	22. Chapter 22 - Forgiveness

"You mentioned that you need power to fight Flux. Why?" Ruby pressed.

"As a part of me, Flux has my skills in combat plus her own set of abilities. She's getting stronger even as we speak. So I need to match her power." Jet replied, holding his gaze.

"What was that thing that you called Deus? Was that the dark god?"

"So you did follow me."

"Well?"

Jet sighed.

"I have two options available to me, either I can find the semblances of Asmo and become her champion, an angel of light, or I can fulfil the requirements of Deus and become his champion, a devil of darkness. I saw Deus to simply confirm my theory about the requirements, which are a strong presence of dark emotions, and someone to become my partner in a bond." he explained.

Ruby gasped. So he was attempting to stop his alter ego, who wanted nothing less than death unto Remnant, and was prepared to accept darkness to do so?

"Why didn't you tell us, even your team, about this? We could have helped you take Flux down." Ruby asked. At this, Jet turned his eyes to his legs, a grimace in plain view.

"The path I tread leads to great danger. If I was to allow you, RWBY, and LIJN to accompany me, I can't keep you all safe. I'm one of the only ones that has even a chance of taking Flux down. I wouldn't be able to go on if anything happened to you." he said.

"So you kept me out… to protect me?" Ruby slowly inquired. At Jet's nod, she frowned. "You didn't answer my question earlier. Was the Grimm you found Deus?" Jet nodded again, and she smacked him upside the head, causing him to recoil with a yelp of pain. "Why would you ever embrace the darkness we're trying to save humanity from?" she asked sharply.

"Well," Jet said, almost timidly, massaging his chin, "there's two reasons. The first is that a part of me IS that same darkness, and I can draw strength off of it. The second is that I'm running out of time. Why do you think it's so wrong?"

"Because if we fall to dark temptations, if we lose sight of ourselves, then we'll cause our own destruction. My mum taught me that." Ruby answered. At this, Jet chuckled, and Ruby saw his aura rise to defend against another slap.

"Ruby, if there's one thing I wish everyone could see, it's that the fairy-tale world of good and evil doesn't exist. We fight, not to prevail against evil, but to survive. We may have opponents who both use and are born from darker powers, but this doesn't mean its pure evil to use their weapons and abilities for oneself." Jet explained, and reached his hand out tentatively. When Ruby didn't resist, he put his hand on her shoulder. "Take a look at me. I fight to ensure humanity's survival, yet I use the powers of darkness myself. The guy you love uses the power of 'evil', if what you say is true."

"But you're not evil." Ruby replied, and wondered briefly why she wasn't shrugging Jet's hand off.

"Exactly. But, I digress." Jet continued. "I know the real reason you let Izzet take you and I here, and why you didn't immediately reject this." He rubbed her shoulder with the hand on it. "I'm sorry, Ruby. This happening, it was all my fault." he confessed.

"Just tell me one thing." Ruby insisted, taking the hand on her shoulder in both of her own. It was a familiar feeling, holding Jet. "If you had to choose, on the spot, to take your light or dark path, which would you choose?" She made eye contact as she finished the question.

"Honestly," Jet closed his eyes, a pensive expression on his face, "it would depend on the timing. If I knew that I could gather the semblances before Flux's plan was complete, I would choose Asmo. But if there was no hope of that happening, I would choose Deus."

"Thanks. Now come here." she said, and he opened his eyes to see her beckoning him to hug her.

She was unprepared for when he literally jumped on her, putting his arms around her, but she merely wrapped her arms around him, and spun so that she was on top of him. For someone so strong, he sure was light. Then, she brought her lips to his own, feeling relief flood her system.

* * *

They stayed like that for what felt like hours, neither going any further from a simple, sweet kiss, until they slowly broke apart. Ruby leaned down toward Jet's ear.

"That was for saving me from Cardin." she whispered.

"Heh, he was tougher than he seemed, I'll give him that." Jet whispered back. "It's a pity you were hurt. I think together, we could have crushed him."

"You might be able to test that hypothesis." a voice from above spoke. Ruby looked up with Jet to see Blake and Yang standing above them, and the couple jumped in fright.

"H-how long were you there?!" Jet shouted.

"Long enough, you two adorable little things." Yang cooed. As Ruby blushed, Jet fired off his red pulse, the shockwave seemingly passing through Ruby, but gave Yang and Blake reason to jump out of range, laughing. As he and Ruby got to their feet, the former helping her to her feet, they heard a familiar clicking sound, and realised that Blake and Yang were armed.

"We were asked to test your combat prowess as a duo." Blake explained, as Ruby felt Jet move to her side.

"Tournament Rules." Yang added.

They didn't need to say anything more. Ruby glanced at Jet beside her, and saw the familiar confidence that told her everything she needed to know. She didn't even want to know how they'd forgiven Jet so easily.

"C'mon then Jet." she growled, as she and Jet took a combat stance, the latter's wings spreading behind them both.

"Let's get them." she heard Jet's telepathy, and she almost felt like their auras were merging, their minds becoming one, in sync.

In perfect mirrors of one-another, both lovers unfolded Crescent Rose and Midnight Rose, and spun them in identical motions before embedding the blade of their scythes in the ground, guns pointed directly at their opponents, who stared wide-eyed at this display of their bond.

"We are that which resides in light and dark!" Jet yelled.

"We are they who knock 'em all out of the park!" Ruby chorused in response.

"Tremble in fear, death is here, far from painless!" Jet continued, and Ruby heard something in the back of her head, and grinned evilly. It was perfect for them.

"For we are the Roses of Darkness!" Ruby finished their chant, and both she and Jet charged at lightning speed towards their targets. She was a blur, spinning around Blake and Yang, Jet out-maneuvering Yang's obvious punches, and for all her speed and agility, Blake's blade merely cut thin air where she was previously.

Rose petals, black and red, swirled around the combatants as Ruby and Jet disengaged. She clambered swiftly onto his back as he took off, circling around the now dazed Blake and Yang, who had been spun around in circles during their attacks. He stopped and hovered upright, Ruby supported by his arms around her legs as they hovered in place, watching their two victims like a pair of vultures. Soon, their eyes found the airborne pair.

"Either surrender, or we'll hit you with everything we've got!" Jet yelled down at them, then started to telepathically communicate to Ruby.

'I've discovered a new power, one that only works with you and me. We need to take a few hits though. Let them damage us.' he thought.

'Hope you know what you're doing.' Ruby thought back, before launching off Jet at their opponents, who instinctively ducked. Jet chuckled quietly to himself before swooping downwards, the rail-gun of Midnight Rose pointed directly at his target.

The impact from Jet's fall sent Yang flying off into the distance, and Ruby glanced up in time to see her smash into a tree before crumpling. Blake immediately moved into a defensive stance, but Jet immediately teleported behind her and attacked simultaneously with Ruby. Blake deflected Ruby's scythe, but Jet struck her unprotected back and dealt the final blow to Blake's aura, taking her out of the fight.

"Is that it?" Jet asked, but Ruby saw an all too familiar flame coming their way.

"Nope." Ruby replied, popping her 'p' and pointing to the oncoming Yang. Before Jet had any time to react, she closed with lightning speed and smashed him full in the face with a devastating right hook. Aura glowing in response to the hit he'd taken, Jet went straight up into the air, but stopped himself falling by extending his wings.

Ruby looked into the furious red eyes of her sister, and realised that she was at critical levels of damage. She raised her own scythe defensively but was blasted backwards by Yang. She went sailing up into the air, but was caught by Jet on the way back down.

"Now's the time. Final Phase!" Jet yelled, tossing Ruby back up into the air!


	23. Chapter 23 - Forlorn Future

"Now's the time. Final Phase!"

Ruby felt her stomach drop, both from the unexpected ascent and hearing those words. Was Jet about to use Dark Ultimatum?

'Just spin in circles, and I'll take care of the rest.' Jet's telepathy sounded in her head. Spin around in circles?

She landed on her feet on the side of the blade of Midnight Rose, and turned to face Yang. She watched the pair, almost cautiously.

Ruby felt darkness gathering around her as Jet took her hand that wasn't grasping Crescent Rose. He began to whirl both himself and her, until they formed a dark tornado that swirled around them, before shifting Ruby so that they were back to back, spinning as one, scythe blades extended.

"Danse Macabre!" Jet roared, before he and Ruby, without warning, smashed into the blazing blonde. Ruby, for the life of her, couldn't see how much damage they'd actually done through the swirling darkness. To her relief, it faded quickly, but it unveiled a scene of devastation.

* * *

The vegetation around them lay like corpses withering moments past the moment of death. Standing on brownish grass, they saw hedges landing on the ground, their roots following moments later. A series of rose petals lay on the ground, as if they were the lifeblood of the slain souls beneath them. Black petals also swirled around them, like reapers dragging the unfortunate dead to the afterlife.

Blake and Yang lay unconscious, side by side, splayed out on a fresher patch of grass, which fenced in the dead like a quarantine against a disease. And they were in the centre of it all. Ruby watched, her heart frozen by either terror or awe, she couldn't tell which, at the wielder of this power as he bent down and scooped up a handful of the still grass, which crumpled in his hands.

"Death. I understand now." Jet muttered, almost to himself more than Ruby. He looked up, and noticed that Ruby hand her hands around her mouth. "What's wrong?"

"What… was…" Ruby struggled to speak, but then she was caught in a vicious retch, and barely had time to turn to the side before she was messily sick. With a curse, Jet immediately strode to her side, patting her back as she emptied her stomach.

"There, there. There's nothing to worry about." Jet whispered soothingly as she retched and sobbed. "I'm here."

"Ruby? Ruby!" Yang called from behind, and she felt him move aside to allow Yang to embrace Ruby. She felt sheer terror. She'd been touched by a power that by nature was the complete opposite to what she was used to. In that moment, she realised even as she cried into Yang's shoulder, that Jet had told her that a semblance was a blessing of Asmo.

That wasn't any part of life or light in what he'd done.

* * *

"So what was that semblance you used at the end of it?" Weiss asked.

She and Jet were perched on the balcony of their dorm, watching the sun set in the distance. Yang and Ruby were inside, the former still comforting the latter. Blake had, for the most part, disappeared.

"Tell me, Weiss, are you familiar with the tale of Asmodeus?" Jet asked in reply. Weiss scoffed, an irritating noise to Jet, but he wasn't about to speak out.

"That old myth? What of it?" Weiss scornfully replied. Jet frowned at her.

"My explanation comes from the view that it is neither myth nor mystery." Jet replied, doing his utmost not to come off as stern. "That power, Danse Macabre, is not a semblance. Semblances are blessings of Asmo, but the power I used came from death itself. It would appear that Ruby and I can use a power of Deus." At this, Weiss visibly gasped.

"First of all, do you even know what Danse Macabre even means?" Weiss queried. Jet could tell she was trying her best not to be scornful.

"No. Can't say I do." he replied.

"It means the dance of death. Based on what the rest of my team told me, everything around you and Ruby died." Weiss answered her own question. For some reason, that knowledge didn't elicit any gut feeling from him. Nothing.

"Why was Ruby so upset?" Jet asked, remembering how Ruby had been sick at the sight of the devastation.

"I think the grass that died had a special significance to Ruby." Weiss said, putting her hands in-between her legs. Something about the sight reminded Jet of something.

"How goes it with Neptune?" he asked, remembering that they fancied each-other, although he'd been caught up with Ruby to really notice. Weiss blushed a little.

"Why do you want to know?" she asked suspiciously, as Jet decided to get up to see Ruby. He turned back to her as he neared the balcony door.

"Just curious." he said, before entering the warm and considerably lighter dorm room.

* * *

Yang and Ruby sat atop the former's bunk. As Jet approached, intent clear in his mind, Yang pried herself from her sister before she leapt down from the bunk. She faced Jet with serious lilac eyes.

"We need to talk. You. Me. No-one else." Yang growled.

Jet exited the room without an argument. Yang followed, and the two leant against opposite walls of the corridor. Yang reached inside her pocket and pulled out some of the same grass that was in the field during their fight. "Know what this is?" Yang asked, aggression plain as day in her voice.

"Grass?" Jet replied sarcastically, though he maintained a steady voice. Yang approached him before she did something he wasn't expecting.

There was a sharp 'crack', and a searing pain on the left side of Jet's face. He spun as he fell, landing painfully on his side, his wings thankfully out of the way of his falling body. Rolling onto his back, he felt his arms being pinned by two burly yet feminine legs, and gazed up at Yang, who held the grass up to his eyes.

"To you, it's grass, to me, it's grass, but to Ruby, this is the most sacred plant life on the planet. It's called Illyana, and it grows on the site of her mother's grave. You helped her kill a large patch with her own hands. Stupid." Yang muttered, before throwing a punch at Jet's face. It connected, and he felt blood rush from his broken nose as a furious flame was added to the pain already present. "Why are you so powerful if you can't see what you're doing?!" That did it.

"ENOUGH!" Jet roared, before firing off the most powerful red pulse he'd unleashed to date. Yang was blasted off him, smacked into the roof, before landing with a thud in front of the now standing Jet with a resounding groan. She glared at him, and tried to rise, but he trapped her with dark glyphs, which bound her arms and legs to the floor.

"You forget who I am, Xiao Long." Jet said in a dark but calm voice. "As imperfect as I am, Ruby loves me for the person I am. I made a mistake trying out that move where we were, but it was just that. A mistake."

"A mistake that hurt her more than your weapons or Flux!" Yang yelled in response, trying to break free of the glyphs that held her.

"Be that as it may," Jet conceded, now pouring his blue healing aura on his face, and letting Yang see his nose reform and the red mark from the slap fade, "attacking me was not a wise choice. You want to know what makes me so powerful?"

At Yang's silence, he continued. "Two things. My variance in abilities. I can hide in darkness, heal myself, and much more. The other is Ruby. She's what forms the drive in my life, and I won't let you attempt to punch me away, not when I can heal my wounds and simply overpower you or trap you."

"I'll let you go, but don't expect to pass through this door," he gestured to the dorm room door, "until after I'm finished with Ruby. You'll know the end result." With that, he released the glyphs binding Yang, and walked through the door, closing it behind him.

* * *

Jet wasted no time in reaching Yang's bunk, where Ruby lay curled up in a ball. He stood on a dark glyph that allowed him to watch over Ruby, like a silent guardian. He reached over, and grasped her in a hug, before gathering the limp girl in his arms, and moving to the dorm room window. As he reached it, and sat Ruby in his lap, the pyjama-clad girl started whimpering softly.

"Shh. It's ok." Jet whispered soothingly, stroking the girl as she shuddered into his shoulder. He gazed off into the setting sun, holding his lover close, emerald eyes glowing in the deep red light of the sun. "We need you, Ruby." Jet continued, then closed his eyes, focussing on an internal struggle.

* * *

Weiss approached the dorm room, but something stopped her. Putting her ear to the door, she heard someone singing, and assumed it was Jet. She listened to the song he was singing, but she didn't recognise the language. She whipped out her scroll, and set it to translator mode.

_"Cum omnes tangebat animum,_

_Divini fructus et folia, radices, omnia,_

_Immundum mollibus ardet in sole,"_

A pause

_"Nunc autem abscondam,_

_The tempestas acredit,_

_Erant autem in via sedens,"_

Another pause, and the sounds of Ruby's whimpering ceased.

_"Nunc tene,_

_Nunc tene,_

_Non dimittet,"_

Deep breathing

_"Quod per gradus impetus,"_

As the song finished, Weiss suddenly realised that she'd heard this song before, and later, realised that he was singing in an ancient language that hadn't been heard in a long time.

She read the translation, and let out a gasp.

It was a song that, if Jet was following the ancient culture's traditions, did not bode well for the future…

**To be continued...**


End file.
